Evanescent Smile
by Starlit.Amulet
Summary: What if the guy you thought you loathed with every ounce of your being turns out to be your secret admirer AND your 'mysterious hooded saviour? What if a turn of events seemingly out of this world drag both of you onto an unexpected adventure? SS
1. Emeralds

Evanescent Smile

By Sakura and Syaoran 4eva

* * *

Hi peoples! My second fanfic! I know, I know. I should be concentrating on The Card Creator right now, (go read that story too! haha) but I don't know, I felt like writing this one. This is like one of those asian dramas/ tv series. Still deciding whether there will be magic or not…

Ok enough with my blabbering. I never write disclaimers because I'm sure you're all smart enough to know that I DON'T OWN CARDCAPTOR SAKURA. If you ever thought I did, sorry, you have issues, go see a psychologist or something. Oh, I just wrote a disclaimer. Meh.

As you all know:

"character talking"

_character thinking_

**(me talking or notifications of time, location etc)**

Sorry for any mistakes, wrong use of tense, grammatical and spelling errors or parts that just don't make sense. I always do that…not on purpose though…xD And this a modern story, it's not going to be like the start the whole way through.

The story….

* * *

Some things last forever. Some things don't…

A smile of love. A smile of deceit. A smile of pure happiness.

These can be seen in everyday life.

A genuine smile is what's rarely seen, and when smiled, it ends all misery, just for that moment.

It is a smile people want to smile.

It is a smile people want to see.

It is an evanescent smile.

* * *

**(Ancient times)**

A beautiful girl wearing flowing pale pink robes hurried gracefully across the jade green grass to her beloved, who was mounted on a black stallion with an army trailing behind. Her long, wide sleeves fluttered behind her as she ran.

"Syaoran! Syaoran-kun!" She called desperately.

The young man dismounted and called back to the general,

"Please continue. I will be there in a moment"

The general nodded his head.

"Of course, your highness. Bid your farewells with Princess Sakura."

He instructed the uncountable number of people to continue walking. Soon, when the footsteps quietened down and the blur of red and black armour disappeared, Prince Syaoran led his horse over to Princess Sakura and they embraced.

"Please take good care of yourself." He murmured into her sweet smelling hair. His hard, Chinese style armour was not the slightest bit comfortable to lean on, but Sakura didn't mind. She just wanted stay with him for a bit longer. Before he went to another dangerous battle.

"Syaoran-kun, please do not leave me." She pleaded.

"I can not. This is a very important battle." He said sadly.

"It is always for the country. For the people. What about for me? Do you even care how I feel?"

Immediately, she wished to take back the words.

"I am sorry. I am being selfish."

"Sakura. I-"

She cut him off.

"Do you remember what I told you about the legend of the emerald necklaces?" Tears were welling in her eyes.

He stroked her face lovingly. "Of course."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful necklace. It had a glistening emerald set in an intricately carved base. It was simple, yet elegant and beautiful in its own way.

Sakura clutched onto an identical one, around her neck.

"That if someone gave their beloved one of the emerald necklaces at sunset, and kept the other themselves, they would be granted everlasting love and happiness. I gave you the necklace at sunset, and I kept the other myself. As long as you neither of us lose the necklace, the legend will come true."

"I know." he wiped the tears that were trickling down her face.

"S-so, you have to come back, safely. And then, we can get married and live happily. Like how we planned it. Like how it is meant to be!"

"I will."

They embraced once more, and Syaoran planted a slow, meaningful kiss on her lips, before leaving.

* * *

Princess Sakura rode on a snow white horse. galloping as fast as it could. She had received bad news, news she did not want to believe was true.

She could see something in the distance. As she got closer, she realised it was the battle grounds. Bodies lay everywhere. Shields, swords and spears scattered around. The earth was stained with blood. The stench of blood and smoke filled her nostrils.

_No. _Her heart pounded against her chest.

The few people wandering around were mourning, carrying away the bodies of ones they knew. It was a terrible sound, full of despair.

Princess Sakura frantically searched around. Something glinting in the last rays of the sun, hidden behind heavy grey clouds, caught her eye. She ran over to it, dreading what she was about to discover.

She heard thunder roar. Raindrops started to fall. She crouched onto the muddy ground and flipped over the dead body in front of her. She gasped. Tears flowed freely, more tears than the raindrops. She touched his scratched face. _No. Syaoran. No…_

His left hand was in a fist. Something inside it was shiny. She pried open his bloody fingers and found what had led her to Syaoran. The emerald necklace. He had been holding it till the moment he died. She held his hand and cried her heart out.

* * *

**(2008)**

RIIINNNGGGGGGGG!!!

The immensely disturbing sound of a ringing alarm clock echoed throughout the house. A hand shot out from under pink covers decorated with cherry blossoms. After the clock was attacked and eventually thrown into the opposite wall, it stopped it's ringing. A half asleep Sakura rolled onto the floor with a thud. She let out a sound that could pass as a grunt and groan put together. After untangling herself from the sheets, she groggily walked into the small bathroom connected to her bedroom.

A while after, Sakura emerged, feeling and looking more refreshed. A small gold brown ball of fluff bounded into her room and attempted to jump on her.

"Morning Kero." Sakura tried to calm down her hyper little Pomeranian puppy.

**(Just a note, in Sakura's school in this story, there's no uniform)**

Sakura opened her drawer and dug around for something to wear. Not that she had much to choose from. Sakura didn't, putting it nicely, have many good outfits. Putting it badly, she dressed like a nerd. It started from a time when Sakura was about 6. One of her snobby little classmates had told her she was fat and ugly. That had left a deep impression in Sakura's mind, making her gradually develop a phobia of dressing nicely. What's the point? She always asked herself. People are just going to laugh at you for trying, and wearing what you're not worthy of.

The comment Sakura's little classmate who-obviously-did-not-learn-to-mind-her-own-business-and-shut-her-big-mouth made was when she was 6, when she was cute and chubby. Now, 10 years later, Sakura certainly wasn't cute and chubby anymore. In fact, she had grown into a beautiful young lady. She was skinny, but not anorexic, with curves in the right places. She did a lot of sports which gave her a figure to die for. She was the perfect height too, 1.65 metres. She had sparkling, green eyes that glistened like two emeralds. Long lashes surrounded her striking eyes, and auburn hair with light brown streaks framed her delicate face. Her hair was straight, not layered, not curled, and trailed down to the middle of her back. But, like every other morning, Sakura pulled it into a tight ponytail, leaving no strand of hair out. Sakura pulled on a pair of faded jeans, even though it was 30 degrees outside. She buttoned up her baggy shirt, put on her reading glasses that she always wore and grabbed her backpack. Everyone, including her friends, could see Sakura was really beautiful. Only Sakura herself failed to. And she hid herself behind hideous clothing.

Sakura felt around her neck for the emerald necklace she always wore, the last thing her mother had left her before she died. Every morning, Sakura checked to see if it was there. She couldn't afford to lose it, even though she had two identical ones in her possession. This one was special, it had been passed down generations from her mother's side. The other had been found by Fujitaka Kinomoto, Sakura's dad, on one of his recent digs.

Sakura stood at the top of the stairs, savouring the smell of pancakes that was wafting into her nose.

"Kaijuu, stop standing there like a retard and come eat. You're going to be late for school!" Her brother called.

Sakura stuck her tongue out, a gesture her brother didn't see. Yes, Sakura dressed like a nerd, but acted like the sweet, childish teenager she really was inside.

"I'm not a Kaijuu! Or a retard!"

She stomped angrily down the stairs to find her brother and his foot that deserved to be stood on. Seeing he was flipping pancakes in the air, she decided to let him off this once, in case she accidently made him accidently set the house on fire.

Sakura kissed a picture of her mother, Nadeshiko.

"Morning mum."

She whispered. The picture was a very carefree shot, of her mother happily laughing amidst a field of purple flowers, her long silver grey **(not from age)** hair flowing in the breeze.

Sakura sat down at the table and smiled, seeing the pancakes covered with strawberries and whipped cream, sitting a pool of maple syrup. _Just the way I like it._

"Dad's on overseas again." Touya, her annoying big brother currently in uni, informed her.

"Ok."

Sakura's dad was a archaeologist and he often went on digs that weren't in Japan.

She glanced at her phone and her mouth dropped open.

"Hoeeee! I'm going to be late!"

She had ten minutes to get to school. Gobbling up her delicious breakfast she raced out the door while calling something that sounded like,

"I'm going to school!"

Touya laughed and shook his head. She would never change.

* * *

Sakura waved to the owner of Sweets, a little store that sold drinks, cakes, pastries and snacks. Kris was a nice, outgoing girl, in her mid-twenties, who wanted to promote her grandmothers famous recipes and opened the little shop. The shop was in a good location, where people would easily notice it coming or going from work or school. It was also the place Sakura and her friends worked some afternoons.

Sakura then walked past the park, where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Delighted, she forgot about school and raced under trees, breathing in the sweet fragrance. She twirled around like an innocent child, a smile lighting up her whole face, petals drifting around her. Catching one in her hand, she admired its beauty. She heard a slight chuckle and looked up. Realising she had been watched the whole time, her face flushed a bright red.

Staring into the eyes of the person standing in front of her, she was captivated. They were a unique colour, a shining amber, and seemed to hold different emotions and secrets within. Her eyes then wandered around, studying him. His messy, chestnut brown hair with copper streaks that gleamed in the sun, his striking and defined features, his tall frame and well built body. Sakura came up with the conclusion that he was _very_ good looking. _He looks so…familiar…_

Little did she know, the guy was equally mesmerized by her eyes. _They are such a beautiful colour…like glistening emeralds. She could lose the glasses though…_

Sakura blushed deeper when she realised he was staring at her too. Then her eyes widened.

"OHMYGODIMLATEFORSCHOOL!" she exclaimed in a hurry.

The guy in front of her blinked, with a confused yet amused expression.

"HI! NICE MEETING YOU! WELL WE DIDN'T REALLY MEET BUT BYE!!"

She practically screamed in his face. Then she ran across the park, weaved through the traffic and was out of sight.

A small smile crept across his lips.

"What a funny girl…" he muttered. He took out his phone and checked the time.

"Crap! New school and I'm late on the first day! I'm seriously f***ed."

With that, he ran off in the direction Sakura went.

* * *

How's that? Worth a review? Even if it wasn't, please review and tell me what to improve on!

I realised that my first chapters are always formal-ish. But then they start to get random. Lol. Those of you who have read my other story, you know what I mean. Those of you who haven't, read it!

But hopefully this will be better than the other story. (In terms of writing). I'm really trying to improve! Based on the reviews I got.

Anyways, thanks for coming and please review on your way out. Have a nice day!

Love and kisses,

Sakura and Syaoran 4eva


	2. New Sakura

Chapter 2: New Sakura

Hi! OMG thanks for all the reviews! I'm sorry this took a while, I was busy working on my other stories. But anyway, I was planning to continue this if I got at least five reviews. In which I did, so yep, here's chappie 2!

By the way, Meiling and Syaoran aren't related in this, they just share the same last name. But Syaoran does have a cousin, a guy, related from his mother's side so they don't have the same last name. Sorry if this is confusing. It just didn't feel right to change Meilings last name, and I didn't want three Li's in the story! lol

Oh, almost forgot all this stuff

"character talking"

_character thinking_

**(me blabbering, cutting in, notifications of time or location)**

_**sound effects **_

Not every chapter has sound effects though…

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Sakura ran along the hall way and to her locker. Not many students were hanging around and most of them hurrying to their classes. Sakura hastily twisted the combination on her lock, which usually took her about half an hour and today was no different, and then stuffed her back pack in it.

_Damn the school for getting us cheap locks..._

Pulling out some math books she slammed the locker closed and ran to the classroom at the other end of the school.  
_Ughh…maths first thing in the morning…and it just has to be at the other end of the school…_

She skidded to a stop in front of her classroom, opened the door and yelled,

"SORRY I'M LATE!"

Everyone in the class continued to chat-or for some others, sleep-since they were all used to it. Sakura did that every day.

"Morning, Sakura-chan." A pretty girl with long, slightly wavy, violet hair smiled at her.

"Morning, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura greeted.

"Just made it, as always." Tomoyo teased, her amethyst eyes twinkling with amusement. She had been Sakura's best friend since they were little. She was always there when Sakura needed help, comforting and encouraging, with her gentle and caring nature.

Sakura took her seat beside Tomoyo just as the door opened and their museum-of-ancient-artefacts-old maths teacher hobbled in.

"Hello class." Mr. Cradder (or Crapper according to half the class) greeted in his croaky, monotone voice.

The class mumbled a reply that Mr. Crapper, sorry, Cradder failed to and didn't try to hear.

"Today, wheeze cough cough, we have a new student joining us."

This caught the attention of the class. Well, the part of the class that could actually understand him.

Sakura sat up straighter in her seat. She liked making new friends.

"Do you think it's a going to be a guy or girl?" Rika, one of Sakura's friends with shoulder length russet curls, leaned over and quietly whispered. Which was unneeded, since Mr. Cradder was deaf.

Sakura shrugged. "I don't mind, as long as he or she's nice!"

"You can come in." Mr. Cradder said to someone out the door.

The door slid open and the new student walked in. He had his head held high and was dressed in a navy blue suit with a hideous black and orange tie.

_Um…what the hell?_

Some random person in the class exclaimed,

"Eh? Our new student is the Principal?"

The Principal cleared his throat.

"Now listen up class. Of course I'm not the new student." He stared at the 'random person' who had called out. "The new student is a nice young man who is obviously the same age as most of you, not me. I am simply here to inform that, since there are some things to be sorted out, I decided to let him join you on Monday, a fresh new start to the week. That is all."

The Principal walked haughtily out. The door slid closed.

"On with our lesson, class." Mr. Cradder croaked.

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The day went on as usual. An extremely boring day at school followed by an afternoon working at Sweets, which was were Sakura and Tomoyo were headed now. They worked in the little shop with many of their friends, not just for the good pay, but also because they had developed a friendship with the owner of Sweets, Kris.

It had become a custom for Sakura and Tomoyo to walk together from school, while their friends found different ways.

"It's a Friday!" Sakura happily chirped as she rollerbladed beside Tomoyo. Rollerblades had been her use of transport since fourth grade. Sakura turned in a full circle before coming back to Tomoyo.

"No more school for two days! Oh, and no more looking at Mr. Crapper's face."

Tomoyo laughed gently in reply.

"Tomoyo you really should get rollerblades. Walking looks so tiring."

"I'm used to it. We've been doing this since fourth grade Sakura."

Tomoyo stared at Sakura for a few minutes.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Take your glasses off."

She didn't reply.

"Why won't you listen to us? We tell you you're pretty but you just ignore us. Why do you think so badly of yourself? You don't listen or agree to our compliments, so what? Are you saying we're lying?"

Sakura skated away from her without a word, and Tomoyo didn't blame her.

_What got over me? She probably hates me now…but she's so stubborn? Why is she doing this to herself? _

Soon after, sweet smell wafted into their noses. Sakura sniffed the air and exclaimed delightedly,

"Is that strawberry shortcake? Kris knows just what I need on a Friday afternoon."

"Sakura-chan, I'm sor-" Tomoyo began apologising

"Come on Tomoyo!" Sakura cut her off.

She grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her towards the little shop ahead of them, a smile on her face, showing she had already let what her friend said go.

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"Kris! Chiharu! Rika! Naoko!" Sakura bounded into Sweets.

"Hey Sakura!" Her friends greeted back.

"Sakura, Tomoyo, hurry and get changed. We're opening in 5!" Kris called from the kitchen at the back of the store.

Basically, Sweets was a cute little shop decorated with two main colours; red and white, with the occasional splash of pink. Little round tables surrounded by red chairs filled the first half of the store. The second half was the kitchen, where Sakura and her friends took turns helping out in, and dividing the two halves was the counter, where delicious arrays of cakes and snacks were displayed.

Sakura and Tomoyo hurried into the pink tiled bathrooms located at the side of the shop. Taking off her school clothes, Sakura took her work uniform out of her backpack. She pulled on her plain, white t-shirt, white ¾ pants, and red and white checked apron. Clipping on her name tag, she hurried out to the front of the shop. There was already a long line of students waiting for the shop to open. She recognised the faces of few of her guy friends, Takashi Yamazaki, Blake Yan and Eriol Hiragizawa. **(Is that how you spell it?)**

"We're open!" She called.

She flipped the hand-made 'Get in here, cause we sure are open!' sign and opened the door. Then she jumped back to avoid getting trampled by the students flocking in.

"Sakura!" Kris's voice floated from inside the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Sakura ran inside.

"Hey, can you, um…" Kris trailed off as she cracked an egg into the mixing bowl.

"…go out and get me some…um…" She added some melted chocolate.

"…stuff. There's a list stuck on the fridge. Thanks honey!"

_**Whirrrrrrr**_

The whirring of the electronic mixer resounded in the kitchen.

"Ok." Sakura ripped the list off.

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"Lots of chocolate. Check. Fresh strawberries and blueberries. Check. Eggs. Check. Milk. Check. Flour. Check. Butter. Check. Honey. Check. Jam. Check. Cream. Check."

Sakura rollerbladed back towards Sweets as she peered inside the grocery bags.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something…" She wondered.

When Sakura wonders, she tends to lift her head and gaze thoughtfully at the sky, which is exactly why she ran straight into the, equally careless, person walking towards her.

Sakura screamed as she felt the groceries fly out of her arms.

Before she could fall back and land on her butt, she felt a firm grip on her wrist and a strong hand pulled her back up.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry..I just…I was…I didn't watch where I was….and I'm sorry…and oh my god, your stuff!" A deep, husky voice stuttered.

"No no, it was my-"

She broke off when she looked up. _Same amber eyes. Same brown hair. Same good looking guy from this morning. Talk about coincidence._

Blushing, she mumbled,

"It's you."

"It's you."

The guy said, one moment after her.

"You're the um, cherry blossom girl."

Sakura blushed harder hearing his nickname for her. She had never been this close to a guy, excluding her dad and her brother…and Kero, let alone one this good looking. Most of the guys in her school…avoided her, scared by her looks. Or the disguise she covered herself with.

"Hi, um……… oh god! The stuff!"

Snapping out of it, she bent down and began collecting the scattered groceries. Luckily, nothing had spilt, and the eggs were intact.

"I'll help."

The mysterious guy bent down and helped her.

Soon everything was collected, and replaced in the bags.

"I got to go now, but nice meeting you…sort of. And I'm really sorry! Hope to see you round!"

And the mysterious guy left, just like that.

"Wait…" Sakura said in a small voice. Too late. The guy had already disappeared.

"I just…wanted to know your name…"

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**(Sunday morning) **

"You have a call."

The monotone voice was Sakura's very…let's say…_ unique _ringtone.

"You have a call. Someone is calling you. You have a call. You have a call. Someone is calling. ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE!"

"Ugh, shut up stupid ringtone."

Her hand searched around her bedside table until she found her mobile.

"What?" She answered in an annoyed, sleepy voice.

She didn't like being woken up by her phone screaming at her to pick it up.

Tomoyo's voice sounded in her ear.

"Sakura, get your lazy butt up right NOW and get over to my house. We have been planning this for a long time now, and we're ready to put our plan in action. This has got to happen someday, though you've been disagreeing with this all your life, BUT IT'S GONA HAPPEN TODAY NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO!"

The sound of coughing and drinking of water came from Tomoyo's side.

"Um…Tomoyo? Calm down. What the HELL are you rambling about at…"

She glanced at her clock.

"…FREAKING 7:30 IN THE MORNING ON A FREAKING SUNDAY?! ONE OF THE ONLY FREAKING DAYS I GET TO FREAKING SLEEP IN! AND YOU HAVE THE FREAKING NERVE TO FREAKING CALL ME LAZY?!"

"Wow, six freakings." She heard a voice say in the background.

"Sakura. Get. Over. Here. Now. Before I get Yamazaki, Blake and Eriol to haul you over in your pjs!"

"Fine! I'm coming! I'm coming!"

"And don't bother dressing up. Insert evil laugh. Everything's prepared."

"Uh, you feeling okay?"

"JUST GET OVER HERE!"

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_**Knock knock**_

Sakura yawned.

"Tomoyo?"

No reply.

"Open up!"

No reply.

"If this is some stupid joke to get me to wake up early, you are seriously dead. I will-WHOAA!"

The door suddenly swung open and four pairs of arms pulled her in.

"What the f-"

Sakura was pushed onto a chair and held down. Lights flickered on. She squeezed her eyes shut to avoid being blinded by the, well, blinding light. Blinking them open slowly, she realised she was in the make-up studio in Tomoyo's house. **(I just added this myself but since her house is huge I'm pretty sure they have one somewhere ;D)**

Somewhere behind her, she heard Tomoyo in a fake, but serious voice.

"Mission 1: Hair."

"What the HELL is going on?"

Tomoyo chuckled evilly.

"Miss Sakura Kinomoto. Welcome to my lair. These people around me are my assistants, Mr. Yamazaki, Mr. Hirigizawa, Mr. Yan, Miss Sasaki, Miss Mihara, Miss Yanagisawa." They circled around Sakura, pointing to themselves upon hearing their names.

They were dressed in all black clothes, except for the occasional silver belt or silver jewellery.

"Um guys? Seriously, WHAT THE HELL? I think I know who my friends are. What is this supposed to mean? And what are you all supposed to be? And why am I held down on a chair in the middle of Tomoyo's make-up stu-"

Her eyes widened with realisation.

"Oh god, no. No no no no no no no."

Shaking her head in disbelief she struggled to break free. No luck. Her friends were strong.

"Mwhahahahaha. Yes, dear Sakura. You are here today to experience an extreme session of a makeover."

"Please guys, no. I've told you heaps of times, please don't do this."

Tomoyo sighed.

"Sakura, why won't you believe us when we tell you you're beautiful." Tomoyo said exasperatedly, reverting back to her normal voice.

"Because I'm not!!" Sakura hated it when they brought up this subject. _I can't believe they're forcing me into this_.

"Well, since you're so stubborn, we're just going to have to prove it to you. Physically."

She paused.

Yamazaki looked at her.

"Did that even make sense?"

"Shut up."

"Ok."

"ANYway. Let's get started. Eriol, countdown please?"

The navy blue haired boy shifted his glasses and held up three fingers.

"Three…"

"Guys, please…" Sakura begged.

"Two…"

"Don't do this to me…"

Blake ran a hand through his black, streaked with metallic dark brown, hair.

"You're making this sound like we're forcing you to drink 50 cans of Red Bull or something…"

"It's worse!"

"Well, sorry Sakura. But this is for your own good. So…One!"

At the speed of lightening, Sakura was strapped to the chair with god-knows-what replacing her friends' hands so that she couldn't move. All her friends walked away and began gathering things.

**(ok, I know this isn't really realistic, since they're all only in high school. But let's just pretend they're all experts for now. XD) **

Yamazaki was the first to come back and hold a pair of scissors to Sakura's hair.

"Hey, did you know scissors were first used in Ancient Egypt to chop off the heads of prisoners sentenced to death? They were way longer before."

"How encouraging." Sakura mumbled sarcastically.

"Yamazaki, continue that lie..." Chiharu glared at him.

"Gladly-"

"…and I'll use the scissors on you. Ancient Egyptian style.

Takashi gulped.

He lifted some hair with his fingers.

"Here goes nothing…"

He closed his eyes and prepared to cut.

"DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES WHEN YOU'RE THE ONE HOLDING THE SCISSORS!!" Tomoyo screamed.

"GAAARRGGHHHHH!" Takashi almost dropped the scissors on Sakura's head.

"What are you trying to do woman, give me a heart attack?!"

"What are you trying to do woman, kill me?!"

Sakura and Takashi shouted at the same time.

Tomoyo sweat dropped.

"Uhh, continue, continue."

_**Snip**_

A lock of long, auburn hair drifted to the ground.

_**Snip Snip Snip**_

About an hour later, Sakura's hair was a bit longer than shoulder length. It was slightly layered, with streaks of caramel brown and was split in the middle. The front was shorter than the back, and she now sported cute bangs that hung over her eyes.

**(imagine Sakura's hair how it was in the anime, just a longer version)**

Then Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's glasses and snapped them in half.

"Hey!" Sakura protested.

"Put these on." Tomoyo handed her a small plastic case.

Soon, the glasses were replaced by contact lens that made her emerald eyes glisten even more brightly.

"Isn't that much better?" Tomoyo asked.

"Well…the glasses _were_ kind of heavy…"

"Exactly." She smiled knowingly.

"But that doesn't mean I approve of this."

"No! Don't look in the mirror yet!"

Sakura was then swivelled around and approached by Eriol, holding a brush. Behind him trailed Rika and Naoko, both holding brushes, bottles, cases, pencils, tubes.

"Mission 2: Face."

"Hello Sakura, close your eyes now. This may, um…hurt."

"Wait, what? Hurt? What are you guys doing? Why is it-"

_**Tweak**_

"OWWWW ! MOTHER F-ING PIECE OF CRAP WHAT DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?!!

"Uh…pluck…your…eyebrow?"

_**Tweak tweak tweak**_

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

About ten minutes later, Sakura's voice was hoarse from screaming, so she settled with whimpering.

"Aww, Sakura, I'm sure you'll think it's worth it after we're finished." Chiharu comforted, her two brown pigtails bobbling up and down as she nodded encouragingly.

Sakura whimpered in reply.

"Done!" Eriol exclaimed.

"Thank god! The torture has finished!"

"Now time for make-up!"

"No way, I hate all that stuff!"

"How could you Sakura, you're a girl!"

"And you're not so what the hell do you know?"

"Well, tough luck, it's going on your face!"

"Foundation!" Her face was covered by foundation

"Blush!" Sakura choked as the pink powder flew up her nose.

"Eyeliner!"

"Eyebrow pencil! …Hand me the eyebrow pencil! Naoko are you asleep?"

"Mascara!"

"Lip gloss!"

"Perfect!"

Sakura couldn't be bothered to count how long artificial gloop had been applied to her face, but sometime later they were finally finished.

Rika handed her bottles of facial cleanser, moisturiser, exfoliating lotion etc.

"Sakura, you're gona have to use this every day from now on." She smiled.

"What is this crap? I'm late for school everyday anyway!"

"Well, find the time! Now close your eyes." Sakura did as she was told.

Eriol swivelled the chair around to face the mirror.

"Ta da!"

"Oh it's perfect!" Tomoyo cried, stars in her eyes.

Sakura hesitantly open her eyes.

"I'm going to regret this so bad…"

Her mouth dropped open.

"…wow…"

Her hair was extremely stylish and completely changed. She had a gentle, natural looking blush on her cheeks. Sparkling eyelashes surrounded her eyes, which were outlined thinly in black. He eyebrows were two thin, nicely shaped lines dark brown. There was a shimmering golden brown eye shadow on her eyelids, and the gloss dabbed on her plump pink lips made gave them a glistening shine.

She couldn't even recognise herself.

"…wow…" She repeated dumbly.

"I'm…I'm…."

"Gorgeous. What you always were underneath all the crap you put on yourself." Tomoyo finished for her.

"But that's not all! Put this on!"

She stuffed a plastic bag in Sakura's arms.

"What's this?"

"Mission 3: Clothes!"

Sakura went into the dressing room and pulled the outfit out.

"Isn't this kinda…not my style?"

"Sakura, you didn't have a style." Tomoyo called from outside the dressing room.

"..ouch.."

"…"

"But that still doesn't mean I'm wearing this."

"Sakura, put it on before I pull you out and strip you in the middle of the room. Won't that be fun?" Tomoyo threatened in a sickly sweet voice.

"I'll be fine." Sakura laughed nervously.

She stripped off her clothes and pulled on the outfit Tomoyo gave her. Tomoyo handed her a pair of boots and some jewellery under the door.

Soon, Sakura emerged from the dressing room, looking nervous.

Her friends gasped.

"Wow." Takashi said.

"Wow." Eriol repeated.

"Wow." Blake repeated right after.

"Is it that bad?" she asked in a small voice.

"It's gorgeous Sakura!" Chiharu complimented.

"I knew you had it in you!" Rika exclaimed.

"Well, her mum was a model." Naoko reminded.

Tomoyo was on the verge of tears.

"I finally get to see my dear Sakura wearing the clothes I design and make!"

Sakura walked to the mirror.

_I really don't recognise myself…I never even thought about looking like this before…maybe my friends were right?_

She was dressed in a cute baby pink tank top with sky blue writing across it. Small aqua green rhinestones decorated the corner. She wore aqua green and white short shorts, the colours blended and faded into each other, creating a nice effect. She had on light pink, knee high socks and elegant white boots that were almost as high as the socks. The boots had silver patterns at the bottom, and she wore a silver belt, silver head band and had little silver earrings in the shape of bows. There was a matching bow necklace that hung comfortably around her neck and she held a metallic silver bag. The outfit showed more skin Sakura had ever showed in her life and complimented her attractive figure perfectly.

"That's it, you look perfect!-" Tomoyo said.

"She looks _hot_." Yamazaki cut in. Chiharu punched him in the head.

"-So change guys! We're going out!"


	3. New student

Chapter 3: New Student

Hey, I'm sorry all, this is stupid I know, but I've decided to make that the school does have uniform. I'm really really sorry for changing it randomly like this. I know I'm being retarded. But please remember, there is a uniform!

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The breeze whispered through the leaves, silver from the pale moonlight.

Sakura walked happily in the dimly lit street, humming a tune to herself. She had just separated from her friends after a fun day of movie watching, shopping and mucking around as the 'new' her and was in an extremely good mood.

_Maybe this is the real me…I've never had this much fun with my friends before, never been so open and myself…without anything to worry about…it feels like I'm finally…free…_

Shouting and the pounding of feet interrupted her thoughts. She jerked her head up and saw there were people running towards her. There was one prominent figure at the front, and a large group behind him, shouting and swearing and waving lights. Apparently, as Sakura made out, the one at the front was getting chased.

Not wanting to get involved, Sakura swiftly moved into the dark alley nearby and hid against the brick wall.

**(Ok, I have no idea how to describe what I wanted to describe but I hope you get the picture of where Sakura is hiding…XD)**

The people got closer and closer. Just as Sakura thought they were going to pass the alley, someone darted in and pressed against the wall right beside her. Sakura stifled a scream as the person turned his head and noticed her.

Before Sakura could react, his hand shot out and covered her mouth while the other arm wrapped around her and pulled her to him.

Sakura tried to scream and struggled to break free. She twisted to release herself from his grasp but his grip was too strong. Tears began forming in her eyes.

The guy lowered his face to her ear and whispered,

"Don't scream and stop moving. I won't hurt you. I'm sorry for doing this, but I really don't want them to find me."

Sakura calmed down a little. So this was the guy that was getting chased. At least he sounded gentle enough.

_He sounds…familiar? This is stupid…how could I know him?_

Shadows ran past them. The shouting and swearing got louder and then started getting quieter as the group moved on. Just as they thought everyone had gone, a torch light suddenly shined in the alleyway. The light moved left and right, missing them by an inch.

_**Thump thump thump thump**_

_What is that? My heart? His heart? God please don't drag me into this…_

Sakura heard the guy behind her breath in sharply. Finally, after a few more waves, the torch holder moved on.

They both released their breath in relief, one that Sakura hadn't realised she had been holding.

His hand fell from her mouth and she twisted her head to face him. Before, he had just been a shadow. But now, since her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she saw…brown hair, amber eyes.

_Oh my god. No way._

The guy too, wore a dazzled expression.

_Why is she looking at me like that? And why does she look so familiar?_

His face paled when he realised where his other arm was accidentally still resting.

Sakura followed his gaze and looked down. His arm was comfortably wrapped around her chest. She blinked.

Once.

Twice.

She looked up at him and blinked again.

Then she screamed.

"YOU FREAKING PERVERT!"

The guy dropped his arm and Sakura spun around and slapped him.

"Look! I really didn't mean to-" He cried holding his stinging cheek.

The girl could slap.

"AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE A NICE PERSON BECAUSE YOU HELPED THIS MORNING INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY LIKE WHAT THE GUYS NORMALLY DO!" She continued.

"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean-wait. This morning? Have we met before?"

"What are you, a goldfish? Do you have a three second memory span or something?!"

"I really don't remember seeing you before!"

The Sakura remembered her make over.

_Wow, the change was that big, huh?_

"You helped me pick up my groceries."She pointed out.

"Yeah, I remember that. But the girl had hair like, this long and wore glasses and her hair colour was the same as yours and you have the same eye colour and…"

He looked closely at her.

"Wow. Cherry blossom girl? Is this like, your night time costume?"

"Ugh! And I actually thought you were nice! This whole getting chased thing was probably planned huh? Who are they, like you partners in crime?!" She gestured towards the direction the people ran off in.

"Find a girl walking alone in the streets and then put up the act to get close to her or something!? That's sick! You freaking perv! But, oh no, today's not your lucky day. You chose the wrong person. You targeted me I'm NOT THAT TYPE OF GIRL!"

She stomped on his foot, which killed, since she's practiced on Touya for the past ten years, and walked away, fuming.

The guy jumped around, clutching his foot in pain.

"Wait! I need to explain! I know them…sort of, but I'm not in their gang or anything! And I didn't mean all this! And I'm not a pervert! That was an accident!" He called after her. But Sakura was too far away to hear.

"Just great. Hope she doesn't go to my school."

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**(Monday morning, school) **

Sakura slid the door open.

"I'M LATE!"

For the first time in history, all her classmates stared.

"Who are you?"

"Why do you scream like Kinomoto always does?"

"I thought the new student was a guy."

Sakura sweatdropped. Tomoyo got up from her desk and walked next to her.

"Hello everyone. She's changed a little during the weekend, I know. But this is Kinomoto Sakura everyone. The new Kinomoto Sakura!"

Silence.

More silence.

Someone broke it.

"Wow…"

The girls stared, eyes wide open, and the guys whistled.

"Man, what did you guys do to her? She's like, hot!" Someone said.

Sakura blushed tomato red.

The guys then started chattering about how much she'd changed and the girls were arguing.

Sakura heard the words 'always was pretty' 'hidden under crap' 'I don't think it's her' and 'plastic surgery'.

She almost laughed out loud, if it wasn't for the fact that their teacher ushered them to their seats.

"Morning class." Terada sensei greeted as he walked in.

"Morning Terada sensei." The class chimed. They liked him way better than Mr. Crapper, uh, Cradder.

Rika blushed in her seat and Sakura smiled at her friends behaviour. There was a little thing going on between their teacher and Rika, and all her friends knew.

Terada smiled at Rika. Then turned to the class.

"As you all know, the new student is coming in today. He's from Hong Kong and his Japanese is quite fluent but I'd like you to help him when he needs help and welcome him nicely. Come in please.

This time the door slid open and in walked the new student, fortunately, wearing the school uniform and there was no hideous tie in sight.

The guy was about 16, like the rest of the class, and had chestnut brown hair messed up in a cute way. Twinkling amber eyes lit up his face, and he was very tall. His handsome face and well built, but lean, body made the girls in the class swoon as soon as he walked in.

Making his way to the whiteboard, he grabbed a green marker and wrote his name.

It was Chinese. And read as little wolf.

"Hello everyone. I'm Li Syaoran. Nice to meet you all." He bowed slightly.

Sakura sprang from her seat.

"It's YOU!"

A look of surprise crossed Syaoran's face.

"Oh crap." He muttered.

Terada looked taken aback.

"Do you have a problem? Kinomoto-san?"

Sakura realised everyone was staring at her and stammered,

"Uh, n-no nothing. Sorry."

She glared at Syaoran as she sat down, mouthing 'I'll talk to you later'. Syaoran gulped.

Terada scanned the room thoughtfully.

"It seems like the only spare seat is behind Kinomoto, the girl who just had the sudden outburst. Please make your way there Li-san, and I hope you get used to the school soon."

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**(lunch)**

"Oh my f-ing god what are you doing in my school? Not to mention CLASS?!"

Sakura shouted at Syaoran at lunch.

"Hey! It's not like I want to be in your class! I was praying last night that I wouldn't be going to your school!"

"What?!"

"Well that sure didn't work. And plus, what are you angry about anyway? And I got slapped already and my foot still hurts!" He complained.

"You deserve it!"

"I touched you by accident! It was all a misunderstanding! I was trying to hide from the psychos chasing me!"He explained.

"Yeah, you're too weak to fight back." She bit back.

"You're unbelievable." He rolled his eyes.

"And I promised not to fight unless necessary…" He muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Oh I heard something."

"Nothing.

"Must have been something about me! What was it? What are implying, I'm deaf? Or a liar?"

"Maybe you are…"

"What?!"

"Nothing! I wasn't talking about you!"

"Come on, spit it out. Too afraid to say it out loud?"

"God, you have issues." He stalked off.

"Don't you walk away from me Mr. Li Syaoran!"

Syaoran stormed into the guys toilets.

Minutes later, he emerged…to find Sakura, arms crossed, waiting.

"God are you freaking serious?! What do you want?"

"Tell me what you-" She was cut off when someone yelled Syaoran's name and Syaoran was knocked to the ground.

"Syaoran!"

She realised it was Blake. He helped Syaoran up, both of them laughing. Syaoran seemed unaffected, which surprised Sakura.

_He would have at least knocked his head from the impact or something…_

"Hey, Blake. Syaoran greeted casually.

"You left without me this morning!" Blake whined.

"Wait, you guys know each other? Scratch that. LIVE TOGETHER?!" Sakura looked utterly confused.

"Oh hey Saks."

"Don't call me that." She glared at Blake.

"Oh ok. Anyway, this is my cousin, Syaoran and he's staying at my house."

"Oh. You never told us your cousin was coming."

"Forgot."

"Retard." Syaoran scoffed.

Suddenly it clicked. "Wait. This perv is your cousin!?"

"Huh?" Now it was Blake's turn to look confused.

"She didn't say anything!" Syaoran tried to shut her up.

"Kinomoto, can we please settle this first before you go around telling people. I mean, it's not exactly nice on your behalf either." He hissed.

"Fine." She grumbled.

"Wait, what was your name again? Li Syaoran? But I thought you were cousins. And your last name is Yan, Blake."

"Related from our mother's side."

Syaoran shot her a look that said 'duh!'. Sakura gave him her evil stare.

_Hehe, everyone cowers when I give them the evil stare._

Narrowed eyes, pursed lips, a creepy look that meant she was about to kill…

It was the look that everyone feared...everyone but Li Syaoran.

Without flinching, Syaoran stuck his tongue out at her.

"Your ugly face doesn't work on me."

"YOU ARE SO IMMATURE! AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING UGLY?! YOU REPULSIVE LOOKING PIECE OF TURD!" Sakura screamed.

"Wow. You guys sure didn't start off well. So, are you like, friends even?" Blake asked.

They gave him their most intimidating glares.

"I didn't say anything…" Blake backed away.

"Retarded, perverted, stupid, sissy piece of crap."

"Fugly, slow-minded, self-obsessed, violent, rude, masculine retard."

"You did NOT just say masculine."

"Oh I DID. You're more masculine than feminine."

"Pray for God to save you because you are SO dead."

Syaoran just smirked.

"Give me your best shot."

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The students filed into music class. Syaoran was still picking chocolate flakes out of his hair and Sakura was desperately trying to clean some tomato juice on her skirt.

Let's just say, the argument at lunch did not end well.

"Alright class. I'd like you to meet our new student, Li Syaoran as most of you probably know."

"How could they not? He's got a fan club by now." Sakura muttered as she sat down.

"He's is very talented with the violin, so we are lucky to have him in our music class. Syaoran, would you like to come up here and perform us a short piece?"

"He just has to be in every class I have." Sakura muttered again to herself.

Syaoran blushed and admitted humbly,

"I'm not really talented. I've just learnt a bit before. And it's my pleasure to be in this music class."

Sakura scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Syaoran picked up his violin, held it in position, and shifted his grip on the bow.

Moments later he began to play, and Sakura's eyes popped out.

The music was…beautiful. The melody was sweet and soothing, flowing like a rippling stream, with the perfect dynamics. Each note sang a story of its own.

_Learnt a bit before? He's amazing! _

_Wait…did I just admit he's amazing?_

_I refuse to believe there is anything good about Li Syaoran. Nothing. Nothing at all. He's just a piece of worthless crap. _

…_Ok…so maybe he's alright at the violin._

Syaoran played the last note and the class burst into applause.

"Wonderful Li-kun. Simply wonderful." The music teacher praised.

Syaoran blushed shyly.

_And maybe he looks just a tiny bit cute when he blushes…_

_Wait. Cute?! Li Syaoran?! Hehe NO._

"I'd like to try something here. Li-kun, I'd like you try to a duet piece with our best pianist in the class. Just to give it a try. Come up here, my prized pianist."

Syaoran scanned the room, wondering who could be so talented with the piano. His mouth dropped open as Sakura got out of her seat.

_No way. I was surprised already when I found she even knew what music was. But, a talented pianist? Her? That's just not right…_

_It's so much easier imagining her smashing the piano with a hammer…_

Sakura seated herself at the piano. The teacher gave them the sheets. Cracking her knuckles, Sakura started off the piece.

_I hate to admit it, but she's good. I wonder how such a violent person could create such beautiful music. Ah well, I'll just kill it with my violin._

When it was Syaoran's turn, he played his part, louder than he should've. Scratching each note out harshly, trying to overcome Sakura's music.

Sakura, realising what he was doing, decided to fight back, slamming down on the keys, almost breaking them.

The music got louder and louder until it was unbearable.

"STOP!" Their music teacher screamed.

Immediately, they both stopped, realising they had gotten carried away and most of the class were covering their ears.

"You call that music?! You call that playing in harmony?! I have no idea what happened there, but really, maybe you two are amazing soloists, but you weren't made to play a duet."

Sakura and Syaoran started a glaring competition.

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Sakura grabbed her books hastily and hurried to her next class. Which just happened to be science. Whoopee.

She scrambled to her seat and Mr Cradder walked him, holding a nicely decorated, lime green, A3 sized poster.

"Hello class. I have bought this pretty poster here today because you have a new assignment. How fun."

The whole class groaned.

"This assignment is to be done in pairs. And that's why I have this poster. I have stuck all your names on this poster randomly, and I'll be randomly picking your partners. When you hear your name, find out who your partner is, and both of you come up here to grab your criteria sheets. Ok, now listen up."

"Wow, he went through all that trouble just make a poster for partner picking? Weird." Tomoyo leaned over and whispered.

Mr. Cradder closed his eyes and traced his finger around the poster. He stopped suddenly and called out the name his finger was on.

"Chiharu Mihara."

He repeated the process.

"Takashi Yamazaki."

Chiharu faced Takashi and growled, thought her eyes were sparkling with happiness.

"Tomoyo Daidouji."

"With Eriol Hirigizawa."

Sakura smiled for Tomoyo. She knew she liked Eriol, just a little bit more than just friends.

"Sakura Kinomoto." Mr. Cradder announced. Sakura sat up straight, listening intently.

"With…oops. Sakura Kinomoto again." Sakura laughed silently. How like Mr. Cradder to pick the same name twice in a row.

"So then…Sakura Kinomoto with…Syaoran Li."

_u-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e_

_this is not happening to me.._

Sakura turned around and glared at Syaoran, who was still shocked.

_Ok. Mr. Cradder used to be annoying, so I disliked him. But now I absolutely loathe him. _

_This is not my day._


	4. Arguing buddies

Hi. Nothing much to say except please!!! Pretty please with a tinned artificial cherry on top no SILENT READERS!!

"character talking"

_character thinking_

**(me talking)**

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Sakura rested her head in her hands and sighed. This was a stupid assignment.

_Why do we have to design a stupid magazine about space travel anyway?_

She rubbed her eyes with her hands and looked at Syaoran, who was lying on the carpet, twirling his pencil around, his arm under his head as a pillow.

"Why did I agree to come to your house? Well, Blake's?"

"Because I have a better laptop with Microsoft Word 2007."

Sakura grumbled.

"Hey, where is Blake anyway?"

"Basketball training. Then he's going to his partners house. Well, he probably is there now."

"Oh ok."

Sakura resumed rubbing her eyes and Syaoran continued his pencil twirling.

"Look we aren't getting anywhere. Why don't we just take a break?"

"You mean _I'm_ not getting anywhere. You haven't done anything for the past hour except pull fluff out of the carpet." She protested.

"But a break sounds good."

She saved the work and closed the laptop computer.

"Hey, turd?"

"Yeah, retard?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"Who was chasing you the other day."

"…"

"…"

"I don't really know. Apparently they leader guy's name was…Stan? I think."

"Oh my God, Stan? You're lucky to be alive."

"What?"

"You don't make Stan's gang mad. I mean…you just don't. They're not afraid to kill. Let's just say, he's been in jail probably longer than outside. And you know that place a few blocks from Sweets? With all the graffiti and crap? That's Stan's territory. No trespassing."She explained.

"Oh, ok. Well, thanks. I kinda didn't know cause I'm new here."

"Wait, why were they chasing you?"

Syaoran gave a nervous chuckle.

"I kind of, stopped them from stealing something…and he got mad."

"Oh my God you really are retarded! You don't _stop_ Stan when he wants to do something. You _pretend_ you never saw him. That's the only way to survive."

"Well, I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Yeah but, you're gonna die someday. He's going to track you. You made him mad.

Sakura smirked. "So, what are you gonna do when he comes? Cry for mummy? Whack him with a violin?" She teased.

Syaoran scoffed.

"And I was just about to say this was the most civil conversation we've had."

Sakura giggled and whipped out her phone.

"Crap. How come my phone says it's 6:10 pm?"

"Uhh, because it is?"

"It's my turn to cook breakfast! I mean lunch! What the hell! Dinner!"

Syaoran chuckled.

"Well, go. Have fun cooking all three meals, retard. See you tomorrow!"

Sakura ran to the front door and put on her shoes.

"Bye turd."

She closed the door behind her.

_Wow, it's dark already. And it's cold._

The fact that Sakura's school uniform was a cute little white blouse, with a short black miniskirt didn't help at all either.

"I wish I brought my jacket."

She tried to check the time again, but found her phone was out of battery.

_Damn. Now I can't even call home…_

_Should I or shouldn't I?  
It's really late, I need to get home fast, or dad will get worried. But…………………  
Ok, I'll take the shortcut._

Sakura finally decided, and took the shortcut home. The path that would go through Stan's territory.

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Syaoran went into his room to change out of his school uniform. He put a white, form fitting t-shirt, black jeans and grabbed a green hooded sweater with an abstract wolf design on the back.

He walked back to the living room to retrieve his laptop and noticed something pink in the corner. Which was weird, since Syaoran didn't own anything pink.

Walking over, he realised it was covered in cherry blossom designs. Sakura's bag.

_What a retard. Leaving her bag here. _

**(All of Sakura's stuff is now new, all her clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, etc. thanks to Tomoyo, her friends and that massive shopping trip)**

He went through her stuff with slight interest.

_And there's like, homework due tomorrow in here. I better give it back to her. She probably hasn't gone far._

Grabbing the bag, he rushed out the door.

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_God, this place is so creepy. I hope Stan and his gang aren't around._

Sakura walked through the dark, gloomy, empty place, hoping to get home faster.

All the abstract graffiti designs on the walls seemed to be faces of monsters, lunging at Sakura. Since Sakura was deathly afraid of ghosts, thanks to her brother's creepy stories from when she was small, she had a vivid imagination that increased her fear. She gulped and walked faster.

"Hey, look who we've got here." A taunting voice said.

Sakura looked up. There was Stan and a few of his gang members, blocking her way.

_CRAP!_

Sakura tried to back away but Stan's people stopped her. She estimated there were about five in total, including Stan.

_There's no way I can fight them or anything…I'm so dead…God….help me.._

Stan walked up to her. He was about a head taller than her, making him seem more intimidating. Sakura almost choked and he got near her. The smell of smoke, cigarettes and beer filled her nostrils, suffocating her.

Silver fang earring glistening in the moonlight, Stan tilted his head and lifted Sakura's chin with two fingers, looking interestedly at her face.

"What's a pretty little girl like you doing in my territory?" He emphasised the word 'my'.

"I-I just want to go home. Please let me go." She answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well, a pretty little thing like you, we're not going to let you go that easily, are we?" His gang members laughed heartily, mocking her.

"What are you trying to do? If you do anything, I'll…I'll…"

"You'll what?" He moved his face closer to her, suffocating Sakura with his odour, showing her clearly the multiple piercings in different areas of his face.

"I'll scream!"

This time, Stan laughed so hard he almost hyperventilated. His screeching laugh only made Sakura tremble even more.

"Scream? Oh, go on. Let's see who'll hear you. Don't forget, no one comes near Stan's territory. Even if someone hears you, they won't dare to enter. You're _helpless_." He snarled.

"D-don't even think about doing anything!"

"Oh, but we were just planning on having some fun, weren't we guys?" He said in a sickly sweet voice.

Without warning, Stan slammed her into the nearby brick wall.

Sakura gasped, from the shock and pain. Stan's gang members held down her arms as Stan moved to her and began harshly kissing her neck.

Sakura screamed as she felt his hand crawling up her shirt. She struggled and twisted in vain. Tears poured down her face, she shook with fear.

_No! This is not happening to me! Why me? I don't want to die this way! Please, someone hear me! This probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten that damned makeover! Nooo! I don't want to die because of something I never agreed to!_

Suddenly, Sakura remembered something her brother had taught her about self defence. She stopped screaming and her knee shot up, hitting Stan right where it hurt most.

"Sh*t! You b**ch!" He screamed clutching his groin.

He raised a hand to slap her. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, but the stinging pain never came. She heard a yelp and her eyes shot open.

Someone was on top of Stan, punching him in the face mercilessly.

Stan's gang let go of her and moved to help Stan.

Sakura wiped her tears. Shuddering at the feeling of Stan lips lingering on her skin. It would probably leave a mark. She slid down the wall, trying to control her shaking, taking in the scene unfolding in front of her.

_Someone heard me!_

Her 'saviour' was wearing a hoodie, and in the darkness with the hood on, it was impossible to see his face. But Sakura could tell it was a guy from his muscular build and his strength. He already had Stan one of the gang members knocked out cold.

Spinning around, his roundhouse kick sent another one flying. Delivering a series of complicated swift punches, one more fell the ground.

_This isn't like normal street fighting. This is different. It's like, martial arts or something…_

He turned to face the last one standing. The guy shook with fear and with a yelp he ran away.

Her 'Mysterious Hooded Saviour', as Sakura decided to name him, acknowledged Sakura with a slight nod, and ran off, disappearing in the darkness.

"Wait!" Sakura called. But the guy was gone.

After waiting a few moments for herself to recover, Sakura carefully stepped over the unconscious bodies of Stan and his gang, and made her way out of Stan's territory.

_This has been a weird day. I've never been so scared in my life.  
_She closed her eyes and quivered, imagining what would have happened if her saviour hadn't appeared._  
I'm so lucky nothing happened to me. Well, apart from some bruises. I swear I'll never take the shortcut again. _

_And who was that guy? Why did he save me and then leave?_

Realising she was almost home, Sakura hurriedly put a smile on her face in case her family got worried. She decided to keep today's events to herself.

Just as she was about to open the gate, someone called her name.

"Kinomoto! Hey retard!" She spun around.

"Hoe? Turd?"

Syaoran was jogging up the path towards her, wearing a white t-shirt. In one hand was something green, and in the other was Sakura's bag.

"You left all your homework you retard."

"Huh? Oh. OH! Well, yeah." She grabbed her bag from him.

"Yeah."

"What's that?" She pointed to the green thing in Syaoran's other hand.

"Huh? Oh my um jacket."

"Oh, ok."

"Well, good night."

"Good night, turd."

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Sakura sat on her bed, clutching a pillow. She had just spent the last hour eating dinner and explaining why the hell she was late and where she was and blah blah blah.

"I wonder who that guy was…" She thought out loud.

Kero barked and whined simultaneously.

She patted his head affectionately.

"He was so mysterious…but the turd was mysterious the first time I met him and he turned out to be, well, turd."

She sighed.

"Nah. My saviour wouldn't be like the piece of turd. My saviour's probably really cute, strong, brave, heroic…" Sakura daydreamed, well, nightdreamed, about her 'Mysterious Hooded Saviour".

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**(the next morning)**

"HOEE I FELL ASLEEP LIKE THIS!? HOEEE IM LATE!!"

Sakura screamed.

She went though her usually morning routine which included shower singing, phone searching, tripping over, monster calling, monster denying, foot stomping, food gobbling and incomprehensible screaming and finally arrived at school…to be greeted by her worst nightmare.

"Morning retard." He smirked, as always.

"Look, I really don't need to see your turd face so early in the morning. It's going to ruin the rest of my day. So just go hug a tree or something."

"Awww, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"No, I don't have a wrong or right side to wake up on. But there is a difference between seeing and not seeing your face."

"Well, it's not like yours is any better. I mean, it's indescribable using words. I think I'll just puke to express my feelings." He replied still smiling.

Sakura wanted to rip his cocky grin off his face.

"What'd you do? Search lame insults on the internet?" She retorted.

"No. I just spoke the truth."

_OK, he's dead._

_- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

At lunch, Syaoran grabbed the last turkey sandwich Sakura was just reaching for, bought the last apple strawberry juice that Sakura always drank, and sat where she always sat.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

"What the hell is this supposed the mean?!"

"What?" Syaoran blinked innocently.

"You're sitting where I always sit with_ my_ friends, you took _my_ favourite drink and stole _my_ lunch."

True, Syaoran was in a seat lodged between Tomoyo and Chiharu, eating a turkey sandwich and drinking apple strawberry juice.

"Hey, don't accuse me for stuff I'm not guilty for! I'm allowed to sit anywhere, as long as the seat is empty. And plus, Takashi and Eriol are my friends, Blake's my cousin, and I have the interest to meet these lovely girls I'm sitting next to. Also, I happened to take the last bottle of my favourite juice, no idea what that has to do with you. And lastly, stole? I grabbed it one second before you, therefore the sandwich is mine. Nothing to do with you yet again."

"Ugh! You're such a jerk!"

"Mm. Nice to know." He mumbled with his mouth full. He had taken an especially large bite in front of Sakura.

_It's so obvious he's doing this on purpose! God, I hate him!_

"Shouldn't you get an award for being a top class asshole?"

"And the insulting competition officially begins." Blake joked.

"No but you're probably stupid enough to wait at a stop sign for it to say go." Syaoran said back.

Sakura rolled her eyes.  
"Anyone who ever told you to be yourself couldn't have given worse advice."

"Well I'm curious as to how old you are since you're always so immature. But I'm not sure you can count that high."

"And I heard you were a ladykiller. Girls take one look at your face and die of shock."

"Why don't you just go slip into something more beneficial for the world. Like a coma."

Sakura was fuming.

"You need a licence for being so ugly."

"You're probably so fat, when you step on scales, it reads 'to be continued'."

Sakura gasped. Her friends gasped.

Tears unwillingly pricked her eyes.

"You did not just say I'm fat." She whispered, her voice cracking.

"Oh no." Tomoyo murmured. "She's reacting like when she was six again."

Syaoran's expression immediately changed. His smile was replaced by a look of confusion and surprise.

_Is she actually about to cry? It was an insult competition. We were both joking around, right?_

A tear trickled down her face. Embarrassed and hurt, Sakura ran away from the cafeteria.

"Wait! Kinomoto!"

"Li-kun, you'd better apologise to Sakura-chan." Tomoyo told him.

"What happened to her?"

"She might seem strong on the outside, but Sakura is actually very sensitive."

Tomoyo explained to Syaoran Sakura's experience when she was six and the makeover.

"So that's why she suddenly changed…"

He looked in the direction she ran off in.

"Be right back." He said to no one in particular.

Syaoran search around the school.

"Kinomoto?!"

He finally found her outside, sitting on a bench under the cherry blossom tree.

He jogged over to her.

"Kinomoto I-"

"Go away turd." She wiped the tears from her face.

"I just wanted to-"

"I said, go away."

"Listen, I'm-"

"GO AWAY!"

"I just wanted to apologise! I didn't know what I said would-"

"Are you deaf!? Just leave! I can't stand you!! I hate you! I don't need your fake apology or sympathy! YOU'RE JUST A PIECE OF CRAP THAT NO ONE WANTS! YOU'RE MOM PROBABLY ABANDONED YOU CAUSE SHE COULDN'T STAND YOUR FACE! OR MAYBE SHE WAS AS RETARDED AS YOU! MAYBE THAT'S WHY YOU'RE LIVING WITH BLAKE RIGHT NOW!"

_God, did I just say that? _

Syaoran's face was red. He gritted his teeth.

"You _can_ hate me for no reason. You _can_ not accept my apology. But you have NO RIGHT TO BRING MY MOTHER INTO THIS. YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!" He shouted at her and then stormed off.

She stared after him.

"…I don't…"

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Sakura changed into her work uniform in the toilets of Sweets, now the same as the rest of her friends. A white halter top, white miniskirt and the cute heart shaped name tag. She didn't bother putting on an apron, since she wasn't helping out in the kitchen.

She walked out and opened the shop like she always did.

Since it was only a Tuesday, there weren't as many students as on Friday.

Blake, Yamazaki, Eriol entered, laughing about something. Sakura was about to greet her friends when she saw who came in after, laughing with them.

_I was going to apologise for talking about his mom, but now that I see his cocky grin on his turd face, I suddenly have to urge to smash it into a wall._

"Blake! Eriol! Takashi! Welcome! I'm sorry, we don't welcome turd."

"And I'm wondering why the shop owner hired a retard."

Naoko, Rika and Kris called from inside the kitchen for them to collect the orders.

"The usual for all?" Sakura confirmed.

They all nodded, including Syaoran, just to annoy her.

"The usual!" She called back to the kitchen.

Not long after, Tomoyo and Chiharu emerged from the back of the shop, carrying trays.

"Iced white chocolate mocha and a slice of tiramisu for you." Tomoyo placed the plates in front of Eriol.

"Thank you." He smiled up at her.

"Coke with exactly five ice cubes and a packet of honey soy chicken flavoured chips."

Chiharu set down the glass of Coke and chucked the packet to Takashi, who hungrily ripped it open and devoured half the packet in two seconds.

"Here's your mixed fruits smoothie and a glazed fruit cookie."

Sakura smiled sweetly as she bent over to put the glass and plate in front of Blake with a clink.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan." He smiled back, showing his cute dimples.

"Whoa, retard. Seriously, why'd you change your uniform? I hope you don't affect the business of this store, like, the customers might sue you for giving them a heart attack or something."

"And a glass of water for the turd." She growled, pretending to ignore his comment.

She walked over to Syaoran.

"Oops."

She accidently-on-purpose tilted the glass a little, dripping a small amount of the contents on Syaoran's pants, making it look like he...uh…didn't manage to hold on.

The other guys hooted with laughter, the girls giggled.

A nerve twitched at Syaoran's head. He faked a smile and stood up.

"I'm sorry. Instead of water, I'd like a honey dew melon and lime bubble tea."

He shoved the glass back at her forcefully, the ice cold water splashing and soaking the front of her shirt.

Sakura gasped.

Syaoran's eyes widened, a blush crept up his cheeks.

_Whoops. I didn't mean to tip so much…now it's like…transparent._

The guys looked away, blushing, half drooling, half nose bleeding.

The girls quickly gathered around Sakura, shielding her and leading her towards the toilets.

Sakura let out a string of loud curses before turning her head and screaming,

"I HATE YOU!"

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The rest of the week passed with just as many, if not more, arguments.

It seemed like Sakura and Syaoran were born to fight with each other.

Sakura and Syaoran found a small truce about the water incident, since it had been equally embarrassing for Syaoran to walk back home looking like he hadn't controlled his pee, but that didn't mean a truce about everything.

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**(Next Monday afternoon)**

Sakura sat in one of the swings in Penguin park.

_**Creak creak.**_

Slowly swinging back and forth, deep in thought.

Syaoran had been careful not to say anything about her weight again, but he hadn't stopped insulting her about her IQ.

"Am I really that dumb?" She asked herself.

"God I hate him so much."

Sakura was wearing another one of Tomoyo's designs. A cute, grey miniskirt with a silky black shirt that was a bit too revealing. She had changed after school and come straight to Penguin park, to recollect her thoughts.

**(Meanwhile)**

Syaoran came back home from soccer practise. After taking a quick shower, he put on a black t-shirt, jeans and grabbed his favourite, green, wolf design, hoodie.

"Just going for a walk!"

"Kay! Come back soon for dinner!" Mrs. Yan called back.

He pulled on his pair of black Converse and headed out.

**(back at the park)**

Not realising it was getting dark again, Sakura continued thinking until her phone beeped. She had a text message.

_**From: Dad**_

_**Honey, come back for dinner.**_

_**Love, dad.**_

_**Sent: 5:30 pm**_

_Wow. It's 5:30 already? I better get going._

She looked up and was about to get up when she saw her worst nightmare. Even worse than Syaoran's face.

Stan, a cast on his nose, and about ten to fifteen people, stood a few metres from her. They had been so quiet Sakura hadn't noticed them approaching. This time, they weren't mocking or taunting her. They looked angry, ready to rip her into pieces.

"Hello Miss. Nice to see you again. I like what you're wearing this time."We smirked menacingly.

_Oh God oh God oh God. He's got more people this time._

"Your little friend from last time who helped you get away, you remember him?"

Sakura nodded weakly.

"Well, he broke my nose here, and injured my buddies."

Sakura gulped.

"So you're going to have to pay for his immensely stupid actions. Guys!"

Stan and the whole gang charged towards Sakura. A blood curdling scream erupted. Sakura realised it came from her.

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Haha does this count as a cliffie? Prob not hey.

But anyway, gtg study for exams! See you all later! (next chapter)

Oh and please no SILENT READERS and REVEW!!!!


	5. Is it him?

Chapter 5: Is it him?

Helllooooo! My dear lovely readers!!! I just had coffee! As you can probably tell! Since all my sentences end with an exclamation mark! Including this one! Even though it doesn't read need one!

So! This is the next chappie!

"character talking"

_character thinking_

**(me blabbering, notifications of time, location etc.)**

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Stan raised his fist, a menacing grin spreading across his face. Seconds before he brought it down a green blur dashed past him and pushed Sakura to the side. Sakura looked up from her position on the ground, kneeling from the impact of the push.

She saw him, her 'Mysterious Hooded Saviour' standing not far from her, stopping Stan's fist with his bare hand. Stan gawked at him, before being hurled aside carelessly.

_It's him. _

Her heart leapt.

_He saved me again. _

Sakura remained her position on the ground as she watched him fight off Stan's gang.

_There's more people this time. I hope he'll be alright._

Her saviour darted swiftly around Stan's buddies, so fast he was just a blur. He abruptly stopped behind one of them and gave him a quick blow at the back of the neck. The guy immediately collapsed.

Blocking some kicks and punches from a few of them surrounding him, he gave a sharp punch of his own. There was a crack and the victim fell back screaming. Sakura winced.

_Ouch._

He twisted in a fascinating butterfly kick, knocking down two at once.

_9 more left. _

One of them sneaked around him tried to get to Sakura. She screamed, backing away desperately. Immediately her saviour ran over and jump kicked him into the huge penguin slide.

Another flew towards him in a flying side kick. Her saviour leaned backwards just in time, Matrix style, making his hood shift back a little. Since there was more sunlight than last time, Sakura caught a glimpse of a lock of his hair. A lock of his brown hair.

His face was still under the shadow of the hood.

_Damn, I can't see his face from this angle._

Using a pole she supported herself up and shifted her position. But he saviour's hood had already slid back in place.

Her saviour dodged a punch and tripped the attacker, striking him when he landed. He jumped up and spun, kicking three in the jaw midair. Landing with ease he unexpectedly surprised the attacker creeping towards him, multiple kicking him into the see-saw.

Dodging to the left, he grabbed the leg of the guy who tried to kick him and spun him before throwing him to the ground. Another bone jarring thud.

The remaining two tried to escape. Not fast enough. In a few strides he had caught up to them, elbowing them hard in the stomach. When they doubled over, he struck them between the shoulder and neck, making them fall unconscious.

Her saviour then walked calmly over to her. Hood still covering his face, he helped her up without a word. Sakura was still gaping at him. He had been so fast.

Sakura suddenly noticed movement behind him and cried out in warning. Stan, who had been forgotten all this time and was actually faking dead on the ground, had suddenly sprung up and placed a hand on her saviour's shoulder. Without time to react, he spun around and received a fierce punch from Stan in the face.

He stumbled back, before lunging at Stan, giving him a solid kick in the stomach and a firm punch in the face, probably re breaking his nose. Stan fell amongst his fallen buddies.

"Are you alright?" Sakura rushed over to her saviour.

Without replying, he held his hand over his jaw and ran off, just like the other day. He was so fast, it was impossible for Sakura to catch up.

_Aww what the hell. I just want to know who he is!_

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Sakura sighed. She had up almost all last night explaining why she was home late. Apparently, she *cough* helped an old lady save her cat which was stuck in a tree *cough*.

For the first time, Sakura was actually early to school. She had woken up early, from a dream about her mysterious saviour. She rested her head on the desk, half listening to the conversations flowing around her, half sleeping.

The door slid open. Syaoran walked in, hair even messier than usual, looking tired.

_Heh. At least I'm earlier than him today. _

She turned in her seat to face him.

"Morning, turd. Sleep well la-" She froze mid sentence.

"If you were going to ask, I slept beautifully thank you." Syaoran answered sarcastically. He looked at her.

"Why are you staring at me like a suffocating goldfish?"

Sakura's mouth felt dry. She was staring at Syaoran's face. At the corner of Syaoran's mouth was an ugly bruise and his bottom lip was cut.

It was the exact place where Stan punched…

"Hello? Earth to retard?"

"Uhh… um…what happened?" She pointed to the bruise.

"Huh? Oh, that. Um, I um, tripped and slammed face first into my desk, the corner and um yeah. Bruise formed. Dunno what happened. Probably unconsciously learned it from you."

_Right. Sure. You so can get a bruise and bust your lip from doing that._

"Oh. Hey! I'm not that clumsy!" She dropped the subject.

_She actually bought that? Wow. I didn't know she was that dumb. Or maybe she just…I dunno._

Sakura continued staring at his face.

"Aww, does the retard actually care about me?"

"No. I just wanted to hear if someone beat you up and you were too afraid to fight back. Then I could've laughed and thanked the person."

Sakura turned back to face the front.

_Am I actually suspecting that turd faced jerk? Could it actually be him? Is he that nice? _

_Wait. That's LI SYAORAN. The guy who is a jerk. An asshole. The guy with a turd face that I absolutely hate. The guy who takes insulting me as a hobby. The guy who…I hardly know anything about._

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At lunch, Sakura went to find Syaoran. She needed to talk.

She saw him, at his locker, talking to Tank, the school's first class bully, a less menacing, less criminal-like, fatter version of Stan.

Sakura walked closer to hear their speech.

Syaoran held his hands up defensively.

"Hey, sorry man, didn't mean to touch you! I just turned around and you were there!"

"You better not have, or you would be going home today with a bruise bigger than the one you have there." Tank growled. He brushed past Syaoran, slamming purposefully into Syaoran's shoulder, making him stumble back a few steps.

Sakura would have laughed at the sight, if it wasn't for the fact she was slightly disappointed.

_God, he's so pathetic. If he's like this with Tank, as if he could face Stan without trembling._

_I guess I'm still far from finding out who my saviour is._

She walked up to Syaoran.

"Aww, is the turd twembling? Was that so scarewy? Afwaid of big meanie Tank who'll cwush you to pieces?"

She imitated a childish voice, making fun of him.

"Oh I know! He almost added another bruise to my handsome face!"

He replied back, in an equally fake voice, pretending to shudder at the thought.

_What a vain, sarcastic, arrogant, stupid, retarded, turd faced, jerk! As if he's my saviour! He's no where near that heroic, and brave, mysterious, captivating…_

"Uh, earth to retard! You've been daydreaming a lot lately. What now, psychological issues?"

"Shut up turd." She walked away.

_He probably was stupid enough to smash into his desk._

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_Where am I? It's so dark…I can't even see…wait…there's something there…_

_What is it…? There's a light shining in the darkness…shining on someone. Who is it? Green…wolf…my…saviour?_

Her saviour, with his hood still on, lifted his head.

"Hi retard."

RIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"GARRGHHHH!" Sakura screamed, sitting up in her bed, a crazed look in her eyes. She whacked her screeching alarm clock mercilessly. Kero whimpered and ran out of the room.

"Ok…just a dream. Just a dream. He is NOT my saviour." He ran her hands through her tousled hair, breathing heavily.

She paused.

"Maybe I should make sure?"

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**(At lunch, at school, the same day)**

Sakura pulled Blake away, clinging onto his arm.

Blake blushed slightly, something not noticed by Sakura. **(Yep, she's still slow as ever with these type of things.)**

"Uh, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura said smiled sweetly.

"Blake-kun. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, Sakura."

"About your cousin? The turd?" Sakura wasn't sure but she thought his face fell a little.

_Oh well. No time to think about that right now._

"Go ahead."

"Well, does he happen to have any training in fighting?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Well, we learnt Chinese martial arts together when we were small. I quit after I moved here and Syaoran continued. He got first place for the under 18 year olds in Hong Kong."

Sakura's eyes widened to the size of plates.

"F-first place? That turd?!"

"Yeah…He doesn't look like it huh? He's actually pretty fit. That's why he's so good at sports and stuff."

"Wow…no…I mean…wow."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why're you asking?"

"Oh um. Nothing. Just wondering. Hehehehe."

Sakura face palmed mentally.

"Ok. Anything else?"

"Well… Ok. This is a really extremely weird question. Please don't ask me why I'm asking or how I know or anything. You were warned. Ok. Does he happen to, by any tiny minuscule chance, own a green hoodie with this silver design on the back?"

"Whoa. Ok. That was REALLY weird. How the HELL did you know?"

"Blake-kun…" She pleaded.

"Ok. Well. Hell yeah. It's like, his favourite hoodie. Cause he loves green, and Syaoran, little wolf, so he loves wolves. Oh yeah, the design at the back is an abstract wolf by the way."

_Oh god. OH god. OH GOD._

"Thanks so much Blake-kun! Nice talking to you! Gotta go!" Sakura hurriedly said and rushed off.

"Uh, same here. Glad I could be of help…" He stared after her.

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"Turd?! Turd!" She called, looking for Syaoran. She found him coming out of the toilets.

"Whoa whoa whoa. What's up? You sure love waiting for people outside of toilets."

He burst out laughing.

"You really do look like a retard, running around screaming about turd."

"I need to talk to you." She said in a serious tone.

He quietened down to chuckling.

"Uh, okay. What's with the serious face?"

She pulled him to the bench under the cherry blossom tree. Trodding on the fresh grass she inhaled the sweet fragrance of nature and turned to Syaoran.

"What's up? Why'd you take me all the way out here? Do you need help? Did your IQ drop lower again or something?" He continued paying her out.

She was silent for a few moments. Then unexpectedly, turning around she reached up and pressed his bruise.

Syaoran took a step back.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Tell me the truth. How'd you get the bruise and the busted lip?"

"I-I told you already. I tripped and uh, smashed into the corner of my desk. And um, woke up and the bruise was-"

"Does it have anything to do with Stan?" She cut in, exasperatedly.

He blinked, surprised.

"Uh, Stan? The dude who um chased me? Uh, no. Why would it have anything to do with him? It was my desk." He laughed nervously.

Sakura sighed.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's not like he came to my house and tripped me or anything. You're asking really weird questions."

She sighed again and said sadly,

"Yeah, I am. Never mind. Just ignore me."

She began walking back inside.

_What the hell is wrong with me? Am I actually feeling a little disappointed? Why would I want it to be the turd? Nope, the turd's not brave enough…_

Syaoran watched her leaving. He breathed a sigh of relief.

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That night, Sakura lay in bed, putting everything together.

_Everything adds up to the turd, though.  
He knows martial arts. He owns the hoodie. He has the bruise in the same place. His hair colour. And the other day, how would he have known where I lived if he hadn't been following me? But I need to be 100% positive…_

Sakura rolled onto her side. She petted Kero, sleeping on the ground next to her bed, and began devising a plan.

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**(the next day, after school)**

Sakura dumped her bag on her bed. Time to put her very simple plan in action.

She stripped off her school uniform, and put on a grass green t-shirt and brown short shorts, camouflaging colours. She tied her hair in a messy ponytail, put her phone on silent and slipped it into her pocket.

She ran to the front door, tied up her beige Converse shoes and called Kero.

"Touya! I'm just taking Kero for a walk!"

"Don't came back late again, kaijuu! Dad's going to be mad!" He called back.

"Sure! And I'm not a kaijuu!"

She closed the door behind her.

She rushed over to Tomoyo's mansion. Yes, she was that rich, since her mom owned a toy company.

"Hey Tomoyo!"

"Hey Sakura. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I'll explain everything later! But can I leave Kero here for a while? I just needed him as an excuse to get out of the house. And plus, he loves your treats you give him. I need to go somewhere now, but I'll come get him soon! Thanks so much! Love you!"

With that, she ran off. Tomoyo stood at the door, confused, but did as her friend said, and took the little Pomeranian inside.

Sakura ran through the gates and onto the concrete path.

_Sorry, Tomoyo. I'll explain later! I promise._

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Sakura stood in front of Blake's house.

_Can't believe I'm really doing this. _

She took a deep breath and creeped, slowly, around the house. She knew that only Blake and Syaoran would be home this time, since she knew, from the years of knowing Blake, what times his parents worked.

_I don't even know if I'll find anything._

Faint noises could be heard in the backyard. Creaking and grunting.

She peeked over the wooden fence. In the back yard, there was a punching bag swinging back and forth, creaking as it strained on its hinges. Syaoran stood, in black fighting style clothes, facing the bag.

With a shout he ran up to the bag, giving a series of complicated, swift punches. He twisted in a butterfly kick, the bag creaked louder, looking like it was about to break in half. He punched it repeatedly, each one a solid punch able to break bone. He jumped up in a flying side kick, landed effortlessly and finished with a smooth roundhouse kick.

Sakura gasped. Firstly because she was amazed by his power. If that series of moves had been used on a single live person, they would have probably died or at least been put in critical at the hospital.

Secondly, all of the moves just then, she had seen her 'Mysterious Hooded Saviour' use on Stan's gang.

_That turd really is that powerful? Why does he pretend to be so pathetic at school? _

Syaoran finished his practise and went inside.

Sakura went to the other side of the house, and sat against the wall, thinking.

About twenty minutes later, she heard the door open, and Syaoran call,

"Blake? Blake! Dude, what the HELL are you doing? …Oh. Well, I'm just going for a walk!"

There was a faint 'ok' from somewhere in the house.

_Crap! _

Sakura hurriedly ran from Blake's house and turned left.

The door shut and Syaoran walked to the pathway, hesitated, and decided to turn right.

He had changed in a light blue t-shirt with silver printing, a pair of greyish blue jeans.

Sakura kept on running till she got the forest-like park. Instead of taking the normal path, she winded through the tall trees until she was sure she was far enough.

The damp smell of dew and leaves filled her nose. She took a deep breath, and screamed. A long, loud, piercing scream.

Hastily, she hid behind a thick trunk. Minuted later, she saw her saviour, wearing his green hoodie, come sprinting up.

He stopped not far from where she was hiding, his head turning left and right, searching for her, or the source of the scream.

Sakura sneaked up behind him.

Slowly, quietly, careful not to snap any twigs.

She reached up, and pulled the hood back in one swift move.

Her saviour spun around, shocked and surprised.

Sakura gasped.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm sure you all know what to do by now! REVIEW!

REVIEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!! THE BUTTONS RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!

COME ONNNN! JUST A FEW WORDS!!!!!! REVIEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

Please?

Sakura and Syaoran 4eva


	6. Misunderstandings

Yewwww I took a while to update right? Well here it is. And don't read if ur not gona review! LOL

Chapter 6: Misunderstandings

"Character talking"

_Character thinking_

**(Me blabbering, notifications of location, time etc.)**

_**Sound effects**_

********************************************************************************************************************************

Her emerald eyes were wide, staring at him.

His expression could be summarised in one word: stunned.

Sakura's could be described as surprised, shocked, grateful and emotional all at the same time, somehow.

Slowly, she whispered out the name of the person standing in front of her.

"…Blake?"

"Sakura?"

"I…I thought…I…you…"

Blake chuckled slightly.

"Sakura, can you please finish one of those sentences? And why do you look so surprised? Wait, were you the one who screamed?"

"I…I was going to say…"

_Oh hell. Just say it. _

"Thank you Blake!" She blurted and ran up, clasping her arms around him in a hug. As fast as she had hugged him, she let go and turned, shooting off across the park.

Blake stuttered, his face glowing a bright red, before he could ask anything, Sakura had already disappeared from his sight.

****************************************************************************************************************

**(the next day, at school)**

"And so I will conclude this speech with a short fictional story." Syaoran said loudly and clearly, grinning at the class. His whole speech had been wonderfully prepared, entertaining and funny, and he had presented it well. He was clearly going to get a good mark.

"This is a story about four people, Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody."

**(sorry if you've heard this before, I couldn't resist putting it in xD)**

But a good mark for her English speech was not what was currently on Sakura's mind. She was recalling the events from the last afternoon.

_Everything isn't making sense anymore._

"There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it."

Sakura absentmindedly gazed at Syaoran with a far off expression on her face. She studied his tousled hair, defined features, crooked smile on his face that usually annoyed the crap out of her. Except today, his smile seemed to be genuine instead of the cocky smirk he usually wore…

Sakura mentally slapped herself.

_Ok, seriously. W T F._

"Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it."

_What am I thinking. What is this? Am I actually disappointed it wasn't the turd?_

She turned her head slightly to look at Blake, who was staring intently at Syaoran standing at the front of the class, corners of his mouth twitching in amusement.

_But I thought he said the hoodie belonged to the turd…  
Why didn't he tell me if was him all this time? And I don't really want to go ask him, after what I did yesterday…_

Blake noticed Sakura staring at him in the corner or his eye. A faint blush crept across his cheeks.

_Should I ask her about yesterday? But that might make it awkward for her, since she seemed to be embarrassed about what she did, considering how she ran away. Could that possibly have been her way of confessing to me?_

The blush immediately became more visible, and Blake drifted off into a happy daydream.

"It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. Thank you."

The applause ran throughout the class and their friend, Eriol, wolf whistled.

"Syaoran! My man!"

He earned an infamous 'twitchy glare' from their English teacher. Twitchy glare, as in the one their English teacher specialised in doing, where he attempts a menacing glare that only ends up being retarded, and his left eyebrow twitches up so high it seems like it could get stuck on his forehead and never come down again.

"That's enough class. Well done Li. That was the last speech for today."

As the class quietened down he walked to the front holding a stack of pale yellow paper.

"Now, before the bell rings, I have been given the honour to inform you on the camp you will all be attending next week."

He paused and waited for the murmurs to die down, before continuing again.

"Here is a note that briefly explains what the camp is like, on the second page is a medical form your parents need to fill out if any of you have any issues, and the third page is a checklist of the things to bring. On the fourth, fifth and sixth pages there are checklists of what NOT to bring. This camp is compulsory, unless you have a doctor's certificate or any obvious injury such as a broken bone. Return the signed form on the page with the medical requirements form by the end of this week." Their teacher droned in a bored voice, handing out the forms.

Excited chattering gradually filled the class again.

"Adventure camp? Cool!"

"I can't wait! I love all the camps every year!"

"Does that mean we have to sleep in tents…whoa…"

"No you douche, it says right here, CABINS."

"Dude this is so gay. What type of people name their place Camp Adrenaline Rush?"

"So, like, we're, like, gonna do all these yucky, sporty things? OMG like, that will so totally ruin my new manicure."

"I like, so totally agree. And OMG look here, it says on the second not to bring list, no hair dryers, straighteners, curling irons, make up of any sort or nail polish. As if I'm gonna listen? How do they expect me to live? I have to bring like, my whole make up set. And my hair straightener, of course. Oh, and that new hair treatment that smells, like, totally nice."

**(LOL ok ok, I overdid it. But it was really fun to write, since I could never talk like that in real life. Don't flame me in your review for this xD)  
**

Sakura turned to Tomoyo with a happy grin on her face, the news making her temporarily forget her problems.

"Another camp Tomoyo! And this one sounds really challenging too!"

Tomoyo smiled at her friend.

"I'm sure this one will be fun."

The teacher silenced everyone again.

"This time I'm handing out some paper. Write your name in the top left corner, I repeat, TOP LEFT CORNER. If I see anyone's in anywhere else I will personally rip it up. Under that, write a name of the person you would like to be in the same cabin with. There may be mixed cabins, and this is a five day camp so think carefully. There will be no room changes on the day."

"Let's write each other so we'll definitely be together!"

"Of course."

_**Riiiinngggg**_

"And there goes the bell. Class dismissed."

Before he had even said the last word, the class had already gathered their books and hustled out the door, still chattering about the camp.

Sakura was back to thinking about her mysterious hooded saviour, and was the slowest to leave the classroom. She didn't even notice someone standing in the doorway, until she ran into him. Almost dropping her books Sakura apologetically looked up at the person, to see a familiar cocky grin.

"What's up with you retard? I noticed you were staring into space the whole time I was doing my very awesome speech. And you didn't even see me just then. What are you, turning blind?"

She looked at him with an incomprehensible expression. He blinked back, the smile slowly fading.

He waited for a 'shut up turd', or a 'mind your own freaking business'.

She wanted to ask. She wanted to know. She was scared. Scared to ask, scared that she would embarrass herself. She was torn, and so she ran.

And he never got his shut up turd.

********************************************************************************************************************************

**(Blake's house)**

Syaoran went through every drawer once again, flipping through the clothes hanging on the racks. Distressed and frustrated, he called out to his cousin downstairs.

"Blake, have you seen my favourite hoodie? Don't tell me you've been wearing it again! Why do you also wear my clothes, especially this hoodie, when yours are all perfectly fine!?"

No reply.

Syaoran stomped down the stairs.

"Blake?"

He found his cousin sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead. It was usually normal for Blake to ignore him, if he was really into the show he was watching. The only weird thing today was the fact that the TV was turned on.

"Blake! Have you seen my hoodie you always take -"

Blake suddenly jumped up and tackled Syaoran.

"Whoa, what the f are you doing?"

"I've been thinking all day! And I've finally made my decision!"

"About what?"

"About why I feel so weird every time she talks to me!"

"Who?"

"I think I'm in love!"

"With who?!"

"I'm so happy! I've finally worked it out!"

"Who is it?!!"

" You HAVE to help me!"

"WHO THE F ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU FAG!?"

"Sakura!"

"…S-Sakura?"

"I really need your help my dear wolfie cousin!"

"Sakura as in…Kinomoto…as in…the retard?"

"She's not a retard!"

"…"

_Wait. I'm feeling…surprised? Yep, that's it. Surprised. But I shouldn't be really. She's cute, nothing wrong with him liking her.... Did I just say she's cute?_

"Syao! But I need your help! You have GOT to help me!"

"Uh….with what….?"

"You know I've always been bad at this type of stuff, I suck at writing and stuff. So I need your help."

"More like, you can't write anything understandable!"

"Shut up!"

"Wait, so you mean, you want me to write love letters for you or something?"

"Yes!"

"Man, that's so gay. And old fashioned."

"Hey. As long as it's sweet or romantic she won't care!"

"What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if you scare her?"

"I'm not confessing to her just yet. I'll take it slowly. They'll be anonymous letters."

"God this is so retarded. And embarrassing. What if someone finds out I helped you do something so gay? Go ask someone else man."

"You can't tell anyone! Even Eriol! That four eyed freak will most likely go off and tell Tomoyo, who will definitely tell Sakura!"

"So then what's the point of writing these?"

"I dunno…I just want to see her reaction."

"Pfft. God you idiot."

"Please Syao-kun! For me!" He whimpered, giving Syaoran a back massage.

Syaoran shuddered and shook him off.

"Don't call me like that. It gives me goose bumps. And don't touch me you fag!"

"SYAOOOO KUNNN!" Blake whined louder, chasing Syaoran.

"Arggh! Piss off you pedophile! Alright fine! I'll write it! Just don't touch me!"

"Yay!"

**(Half an hour later)**

"I'm about to puke from the cheesiness of this thing. And what is she still recognises my writing?"

"She won't! You've made it straight instead of slanted, it looks completely different."

Syaoran scrunched up another piece of paper.

"Dude, how about we just occasionally slip a note in her locker, just a short message. You can attach a small chocolate for all I care. But short notes with sweet meanings will work way better than these long, corny letters that I'm failing at writing."

Blake thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Syaoran you're good! Where do you get this from?"

"Shut up or I won't write."

********************************************************************************************************************************

**(Next day at school)**

Sakura opened her stuffed locker and noticed something out of place. A little blue piece of paper, with an almost microscopic blue ribbon stuck to it. She unfolded the note. Inside, scrawled in white ink, was a short message and an intricately drawn rose.

'_Others may give you fresh roses, but this rose that I have given you will never wilt, just like my love for you. From your secret admirer.'_

**(How cheesy was that? LOL)**

Sakura's heart leapt and she felt choked for words.

"Ooh, Sakura, what's that?"

He friends had come to walk to class with her.

"Is that a love letter?"

"Who's that from?"

"Can I read it?"

"It's so sweet! From your secret admirer…who is it?"

He friends went off and began arguing about who it was, leaving Tomoyo, Blake and Syaoran with her.

"This is the first time someone has a given you a note like this, right Sakura? Ooh I'm so excited! This is so sweet!" Tomoyo squealed, whipping out her phone and recording a red faced Sakura clutching the note.

**(Pretty sure most people tape stuff using their phones now, so I made Tomoyo more modernized)**

Sakura nodded sheepishly.

"I just hope it not a prank of some sort."

"I assure you it not!" They all turned to look at Blake.

"How would you know?"

"I…er…"

Syaoran spoke for him.

"The retard isn't enemies with anyone. I don't see a reason for anyone to pull a prank like this on her."

Sakura smiled at him in agreement, but he wouldn't look her in the eye.

She realised the two people who she had tried to avoid were both standing in front of her. The urge to ask both of them was too hard to resist. She opened her mouth slowly and was just about to ask when,

"I'm late for class."

Syaoran spun around and walked off.

********************************************************************************************************************************

Sakura opened her locker and immediately snatched up the little pink note. For the past few days she had received the same type of notes, only in different colours, from her secret admirer.

She hastily opened this one and read the message.

'_If we're ever together one day, you'll ask me: What's more important to you, me or your life? I'll say my life and you'll go and leave me without even knowing that you are my life. Your secret admirer.'_

**(Ding ding! Winner of the cheesy notes competition!)**

Sakura was busy studying each word on the note, and didn't notice Syaoran hurrying towards her. For the second time that week, the crashed into each other, Syaoran's folder flew out of his arms, the contents exploding out of it.

"I'm sorry!" They said at the same time.

Syaoran got up and immediately collected his sheets of paper, stuffing them in his folder.

"I'm sorry, I got to go retard."

He rushed off through the hall way.

Sakura picked up a pink piece of paper with the corner cut out. He had left it behind.

"Wait! Your paper! Turd!"

_Hold on…this is the same colour as…_

She picked up her note from the ground, smoothing out the creases. She compared it to the bigger piece of paper. Her note was the exact same colour, and fit perfectly into the corner that was cut out, completing the A4 sized paper.

Her hands shook as reality hit her.

_The turd isn't my mysterious hooded saviour…he's…he's…my secret admirer!_

********************************************************************************************************************************

Mwhahahaha ending it there.

I might update faster if u review.

I just had coffee.

Mwhhahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASEEEEE I want more reviews!!!!!!!!!


	7. Camp Adrenaline Rush

OMG 6 months since I last updated? Holy sh******t. You guys must hate me!

*sobs*

No I didn't get killed by a Shot card, drowned by a Watery card, burned by a Fiery card, trampled by a Big card, annoyed to death by a Move card etc etc.

I actually didn't update for so long because DRUMROLL… I WAS BUSY.

GASP, NO WAY.

Yeh, basically, no excuses. I'm sorry!

But at least this chapter's up! Not the best, but still something!

*reviewers chuck scrunched up paper balls*

OK OK OW! Sorry!

*runs away

*comes back to post the chapter

*runs away again

~~*~~

Chapter 7: Camp Adrenaline Rush

~~*~~

_Oh FML FML FML FML FML FML FML. Maybe I should go on ?_

_Well, not really. But seriously, why is EVERYTHING so complicated? I mean, yeah, compared to all those poor kids in third world countries being child slaves and all that, I should feel grateful. But still..._

Sakura lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, finding a little comfort lying on the familiar silky sheets of her bed, engulfed in the scent of cherry blossoms. But only a little comfort. Actually, not much at all.

_Why WHY WHYYYYYYYYY? Why the turd?_

_Why am I even feeling so distraught? I mean, I can just reject him. Simple. Or maybe it isn't even him. Yeah. I mean, we fight all day, he wouldn't like me. No way. No freaking way.  
…I need to talk to someone._

Sakura grabbed her phone that was conveniently lying beside her and immediately speed dialled Tomoyo's number.

"Sakura?"

"Tomoyo! What should I do?"

She told Tomoyo the contents of everything that had happened in the past few hours in record time.

Tomoyo clucked her tongue thoughtfully.  
"Well, maybe it wasn't even him. Maybe he just happened to have a piece of paper the same shade of pink with a missing corner the exact size of your note."

"Tomoyo, you're not helping."

"All I'm saying is, don't feel so depressed."

"You didn't exactly say that before." Sakura pointed out. Tomoyo ignored her and continued on.

"There's no reason to stress yourself. It could have been a coincidence. If you really hate each other so much like how you show it every day with your arguments, then you won't have to worry if it's him. There's nothing much you can do now, except wait and see."

"I guess…" Sakura mumbled, not sounding so convinced. She fingered the sparkling emerald necklace around her neck.

"The least you can do is stop killing yourself with worry…or frustration… or whatever you're doing right now. Just think about his, um, 'turd' face as you put it. Can you really imagine him going up to you and saying,"

Tomoyo put on a fake guy's voice.

"Sakura, it's me. It's been me all along. I'm your secret admirer and I love yo-"

She was cut off by Sakura's sudden explosion of laughter. The scene was truly too absurd to imagine.

"Oh god Tomoyo. I guess you're right, it really can't be the turd."

"That's right. So what you should be doing now is packing for camp. Remember! Use the checklist I gave you, and we're going shopping tomorrow for anything extra that we'll need. But don't pack too much, I've made most of your clothes!"

"Yes mom." Sakura answered jokingly. "But I can't wear the clothes you make, it's an adventure camp!"

"Doesn't mean you can't look good!"

"OK fine, no skirts."

"But when we're not doing the outdoor activities, like meals, free time, and the night games, you'll be able to wear a skirt!"

"Hehe NO."

"I think I'm just going to ignore these What Not to Bring pages…"

"Tomoyo! You're bringing make up and stuff too?"

"I have to make sure you look good at all times! I'm just bringing my mini hair straightener! And my smallest make up compact case!"

"Yeah, which has about 42 different eye shadows!"

"No! More like 36!" Tomoyo argued.

"Still!"

"Fine, a little mascara at least?"

"No."

"You can't stop me." She announced stubbornly.

"Ok, true." Sakura rolled her eyes. Knowing Tomoyo, she would probably stick it in the corner of her suitcase. Her very massive suitcase.

"I got to go, but remember to pack! And don't forget your pillow!"

"Tomoyo, I'm not _that _dumb!"

"…You left it at year six camp."

"TOMOYO!"

All she got was a giggle and the dial tone.

Sakura sighed and hung up.

"Alright, time to pack."

~~*~~

"Tomoyo, do you REALISE how heavy my bag is right now?"

"No."

Sakura sighed dejectedly. Tomoyo had been serious when she said she had made clothes for her. And serious when she said she would ignore the What Not To Bring List.

"Have you even left anything that's _not_ on the What Not To Bring List?"

Tomoyo looked up thoughtfully.

"Well, I didn't bring a pet, I didn't bring a portable DVD player, I didn't…no wait I did bring that…oh and I didn't bring an inflatable pool recliner."

"…Those were on the list?"

"AND my suitcase isn't over 20 kilos." She added, looking proud.

"Well, how heavy is it? 19.99?"

"Nah-ah! More like…19.96…"

Sakura face palmed. Literally face palmed.

They were currently lugging their suitcases behind them towards the main hall of the camp. The bus ride had been quite normal, nothing too exciting, nothing much went wrong except when the sick bucket overflowed…

But now Sakura and the rest of her grade were off the bus, past the entrance (which had a very tacky sign screaming 'Camp Adrenaline Rush' in bold, bright letters), and heading towards the main hall which was finally in sight.

"At least it looks relatively clean for an adventure camp."

"Mmhm." Sakura agreed absentmindedly, studying their surroundings.

She couldn't deny that the scenery was nice, lots of tall trees and colourful shrubs, stray beams of sunlight peeking through the leaves, an occasional butterfly flew above their heads and birds chirped their morning song. The whole camp had a very outdoor-ish feel to it, fitting to the theme of 'Finding Your Inner Self Through Connection With the Beauty of Nature' etc, that Sakura often saw as titles in health magazines.

When all of the students had gathered in the large, vacant hall, chattering excitedly, they were interrupted by a loud, booming voice.

"Welcome lovely students, to CAMP ADRENALINE RUSH!!" A fat, um I meant overly plump, lady wearing the camp uniform screamed overenthusiastically at them through a microphone, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Botox and an overdose of crack, right there."

Blake whispered and a few of them sniggered.

"Now I'm sure you're all VERY excited! Camp Adrenaline rush will definitely be a memory that will stick with you forever!"

"Well it's kinda hard to forget a face like that…it'll haunt me for weeks."

Syaoran nudged Blake to shut up, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Not only will you find fun and adventure here, you'll also discover the qualities of friendship, teamwork and the beauty of having support from each other! So before I hand over to your teacher to announce you cabin groups, and your groups for the upcoming activities, I'd just like to remind you all, if you need any help for anything at all, just look for your camp instructors or staff, who will all be wearing the same uniform and cap I have now!"

She twirled around happily, making certain parts of her fat, I meant…excess flesh, jiggle unceremoniously.

Blake stared at her with a look of utter disgust and Syaoran couldn't help but let a laugh escape.

The, for the lack of a better word and because I simply can not be bothered to find a better word, fat lady glared at him, before her smile was replastered on her face. She finally gave the microphone to Mr. Twitchy Eye.

"Students, I will be reading out your cabin groups, which will also be the groups you stay in for camp activities. Remember, you wrote the name of the person who you'd like to stick with, so there will be NO room changes."

He shot them a twitchy glare before continuing.

"So without further ado…group one will be…"

"Who do you think we'll be with?" Sakura whispered to Tomoyo.

"Hopefully our friends, but he said there could be mixed groups so you never know!"

**(Unrealistic, but hey, this is fanfiction xD)**

"True, but I hope we'll at least be with nice people. I hate it when you're stuck with people who re-fuse to cooperate and bring the whole team down and-"

"Group seven. Kinomoto Sakura."

Sakura was cut off mid sentence as she jerked her head up at the sound of her name.

"Daidouji Tomoyo."

They both squealed happily, earning yet another twitchy glare.

"But of course we'd be in the same group Sakura, we wrote each other's name!"

"Yes, but I'm still happy!"

"Sasaki Rika."

"Rika!!!"

"Yanagisawa Naoko."

"Naoko!!"

The girls greeted their friends happily.

"Mihara Chiharu."

"Chiharu too! So next would be.."

"Yamazaki Takashi."

They all laughed and Chiharu blushed slightly.

"I didn't write his name…" She mumbled.

"Sure…sure…" The rest chorused.

"Yan Blake."

"Hi I'm joining this group!"

"Blake-kun! Yay this is such an awesome group!" Sakura laughed gleefully.

"And last member of group seven, Li Syaoran."

Silence.

More silence.

And then someone broke it.

"Yay Li-kun!"

"No fair, Syaoran has to go to their group!"

"NOOOOO NOT THE TURD!"

~~*~~

"My bed!"

"Mine!"

"My bed!

"Mine!"

"I put my bag here first!

"I threw my bag onto it when I walked in! You were just too blind to see it!"

"Don't care! My bed!"

"My bed!"

"My bed!"

"My bed!"

All of Group Seven except the two arguing had gathered on Tomoyo's bed, watching their two friends, namely Sakura and Syaoran, argue over who first got to the top bunk of the bed closest to the bathroom.

Tomoyo sighed,  
"How long have they been at it?"

Blake glanced at his watch,  
"Exactly 6 minutes and 28 seconds. 29 now. And 30."

Tomoyo sighed yet again and stood up slowly.

"Sakura…Syaoran…SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!"

Immediately the cabin went silent, all of the members of the group gawking at Tomoyo. They had never seen her lose her cool like that.

"Look. Seriously. I don't give a… who gets the top bunk, one of you just take it and one of you take the bottom bunk, both are equally close to the toilet. We're going to have to live together and cooperate for the next five days, we going to have to be able to work as a team for all the activities, SO STOP ARGUING OVER A FREAKING BED BECAUSE IF YOU CONTINUE, I. WILL. GO. INSANE. GOT IT?"

Sakura and Syaoran gulped, before quickly nodding.

"She's PMSing or my last name isn't Li." Blake whispered.

"Your last name isn't Li anyway." Chiharu shot back.

"Oh. True."

Sakura and Syaoran resumed glaring at each other.

"Top bunks mine. Full stop."

"Fine. Just don't wake me when you need go to the toilet at night."

"I know how to hold, unlike you."

"You-"

Tomoyo breathed in heavily. That shut both of them up. She took another breath and turned around to face everyone, now smiling.

"Ok. Now that that's sorted out, let's quickly go get our timetable for today and see what activities we participating in!"

She continued smiling and led the way out of the cabin.

"I'm scared. Very scared. And so very glad guys don't PMS."

"Blake, shut up."

~~*~~

So we've got canoeing first up, then lunch, then rock climbing, then dinner and at night we've got a scavenger hunt thingie that involves the whole grade."

"Man, can't they think up any original camp activities?"

"I reckon."

"Rika, how come you've got a different timetable?"

"Oh, I've got to tell you guys. I moving to a different cabin with all the teachers assistants because I um…volunteered to be an assistant and…"

"Oh. Got it got it." Sakura suddenly realised why Rika was looking embarrassed.

"Have fun then Rika!"

"Thanks, I will. And also, Eriol will be moving in to replace me."

"Eriol?" Syaoran raised an eyebrow.

"Syaoran! Blake! Yamazaki! Yoohoo!"

"Yep, that Eriol."

~~*~~

**(At the lake)**

"It's so hard to balance!"

"I know, but it's fun!"

There were currently eight canoes in the lake, all occupied by members of Group Seven.

The seating arrangements were Sakura and Tomoyo in one canoe, Chiharu and Naoko in one, Eriol and Yamazaki in one, and Syaoran and Blake in one.

They were currently having a guys verse girls race, despite the canoeing instructors pleas.

Sakura and Tomoyo were busy giggling and having fun, and failed to notice a fast moving canoe creeping up on them.  
By the time they saw Syaoran and Blake's evil smirks it was too late. The impact of the canoe hitting theirs made them lose their balance, Sakura even dropped her paddle, and they flipped over.

Luckily, all students were required to wear life jackets, so Sakura quickly resurfaced, to see Tomoyo already trying to turn over their canoe.

Syaoran and Blake were howling with laughter, which made Sakura fume even more.

When they finally climbed back into their canoes, they quickly paddled over, and without a word, Sakura and Tomoyo both scooped up water with their paddles and flung it at the two cousins currently not paying attention.

"That was for making up capsize!"

And so began Group Sevens inter-group water fight.

~~*~~

**(Lunch)**

The large dining hall was buzzing with the chatter of the camp students. Group seven was seated at one of the long benches, refreshed and dressed in new clothes, eating hungrily and complaining about the lack of hot water the showers provided.

"It's all cause of you two!" Sakura accused Syaoran and Blake, scooping up a huge spoonful of mashed potatoes. Who knew camp could be so energy depriving?

They both laughed.

"What about us?"

"You guys made us capsize!"

"Yeah but the water fight got all of us equally wet! We all had to suffer the consequences of having hot water only for the first half of the shower."

Syaoran and Blake shared a knowing grin.

"Plus, we're both used to having cold showers so we don't really care."

Sakura glared at them, a disgusted look on her face.

"What?" Syaoran gave her an innocent smirk, as innocent as a smirk can get.

"You sick piece of turd."

"Sick? How was that sick. We meant literal cold showers, right Blake"

Blake nodded in agreement.  
"When we did training in China, we were forced to take cold showers because of like…fifty reasons that I can't be bothered to list. All in all, it was supposed to be good for us, so we even had to use cold water in winter, to practise our durability in preparation for different circumstances."

"That's right. So why were you looking so disgusted, retard? Thinking of something different? Naughty."

Syaoran mocked her, clucking his tongue and wagging his finger at her.

The rest of the group laughed and Sakura's face flared in embarrassment.

"Turd…" She gritted her teeth.

"I think she took it the wrong way." Syaoran laughed and nudged Blake.

Knowing they set her up and unable to contain herself, Sakura stood up suddenly, grabbed the nearest weapon-which happened to be a spoon full of mashed potato-and flung it at Syaoran face.

And so began Group Seven's intergroup food fight.

~~*~~

**(Rock climbing)**

"Are you sure the harness is secure, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked worriedly.

"Don't worry Tomoyo, the instructor already checked it."

"Are you going to be ok though? You're already tired from the water fight, food fight, and cleaning the dishes."

"I'm going to be fine, don't worry. I'm going up now, remember to loosen the rope as I go!"

"Good luck!"

The whistle blew and the first four to scale the cliff face immediately shot up, three of them evidently faster.

Eriol eventually began to lag behind as Sakura, Syaoran and Blake climbed up, higher and higher, each grabbing the right ledge or rock and using the accurate amount of strength with perfect precision, looking professional.

"Who knew Sakura was so good at rock climbing? I mean, those two we all know are sporty, but wow, Sakura's really keeping up with them." Chiharu commented, working on Blake's ropes.

"I know. Poor Eriol is so far behind now." Naoko laughed slightly, holding Eriol's ropes.

"Did you know rock climbing was first found to-"

"Don't know, don't care. If I wasn't holding Blake-kun's life in my hands, I would be strangling you right now."

Tomoyo finally commented after observing the rock climbers,  
"I actually think those two and slowing down for Sakura, they're trying to maintain the same pace."

"Huh? How come?"

"Look at their heads, they keep turning towards each other every once in a while, they seem to be talking."

**(Meanwhile, up there)**

"What's wrong retard, tired already?

"Of course! I was already tired after the stupid food fight, and then as a punishment we had to clean up the whole dining hall."

"And you sound like you're blaming me."

"Of course I am. You two…"

She turned glare at Blake as well.

"Hey what did I do!?" Blake protested.

"You two started it! Retards."

And then it hit Sakura. The whole issue of her saviour, after a whole day of fighting she had completely forgot that she had wanted to ask them about it.

_Now that we're up here alone…should I…?_

"Blah. Can't be bothered to stay here to listen to a retard complain. Bye guys!" Syaoran called, immediately picking up his pace. In seconds he was metres ahead of them.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Sakura protested and followed him up.

Sakura tried to catch up, but she pushed herself too hard. Her foot slipped off a rock ledge and her tired arms, failing to support her weight, let go of the rock she was clinging on to.

With a small scream she fell backwards, hands desperately trying to hold onto something. She felt the wind rushing past her ears. She heard her name being screamed out.

_My harness, why isn't it stopping me?_

"Tomoyo! Hurry and tighten the ropes!"

"I'm trying, but the rope broke, it's no use!"

"Where the hells the instructor!?"

"I told him we'd be ok so he went to supervise the abseiling group for a bit!"

"Well we aren't ok right now!"

Sakura closed her eyes, feeling as though this was yet another one of those near death experiences.

_Is this the end? I'm gonna die from rock climbing? I'm gonna die because a stupid rope broke? What the hell?_

At the exact same time she felt two hands clasp onto hers and immediately she stopped falling. She quickly regained her footing and her eyes shot open. Blake was holding onto her left hand while Syaoran held her right.

Her heart, which felt as though it had been lifted almost to her throat during the fall dropped back into place with a thump. Her first thought the fact that she was still alive. Her second thought was why the rope had suddenly broken. Her third thought was how had Syaoran had gotten all the way down here to grab her hand.

"S-Sakura…" Tomoyo was almost on the verge of tears. All her other friends looked just as relieved.

Slowly Blake and Syaoran lowered Sakura towards the ground, letting her hold onto them while walking down the cliff face. As soon as her feet touched the ground she was smothered by Tomoyo who apologised repeatedly.

"Tomoyo shhh it's ok now, I'm ok, it wasn't your fault."

"Are you really ok Sakura?" For the first time Takashi actually wore a serious expression.

"Yes, really. Thank you, all of for worrying for me. But I'm really ok now."

Sakura forced a smile to convince her friends, ignoring the fact her heart still hadn't settled down from the shock and was continuously thumping loudly against her ribcage, so hard it almost hurt.

"Retard, take off your harness."

"Oh…ok."

Sakura stepped out of the harness and handed it to Syaoran, who checked it carefully.

"The rope was…cut."

"Hoe?"

"Someone cut it beforehand, very carefully, so it wasn't fully broken, only hanging by a thread. And when Sakura slipped and put strain on it, it broke."

Blake snatched the length of rope from Syaoran and examined it.

"He's right. A smooth, clean, efficient cut. Perfect amount of strength used, perfect angle."

"An expert with knives." Syaoran continued.

"So you're saying, this wasn't just some cruel joke on Sakura?"

"If it was just some random student, or even any of the teachers or instructors here, they would've just hacked at the rope with any knife. Unless some of the camp instructors have hidden talents."

"And hidden weapons."

"Weapons?" Tomoyo gasped.

"This wasn't done by some butcher knife stolen from the kitchen."

"So what are you saying, this is serious? Like…someone's actually trying to kill Sakura?" Takashi inquired, a look of disbelief crossing his face.

Both of them shrugged.

"It sounds…possible. And pretty…exciting." Naoko commented.

"I personally think you guys have watched too many action movies. Or maybe practising martial arts has gotten to your heads." Chiharu stated, her hands on her hips. She turned to Naoko.

"And you've read too many books. All of you, stop scaring poor Sakura. It most likely was some very stupid practical joke done by some ignorant fag. It probably wasn't even aimed at Sakura, just anyone who was unfortunate enough to get that god damned harness."

"I agree with Chiharu. It was just a little bad luck that Sakura happened to get that harness. There's no reason someone so powerful like you two described, would want to kill Sakura. So let's just report this to the teachers in case that idiot decides to prank someone else." Tomoyo put her arm around Sakura to comfort her.

Sakura smiled weakly in response. She didn't want to make everyone worry, but she couldn't help but notice the serious expressions that the two cousins wore. It seemed like they hadn't shared something with the rest to them.

"Yes. Some stupid prank. Let's go find the supervisor now. Ok? Come on everyone, smile! I'm ok! But we gotta tell the teachers so no one else gets hurt, right?"

"The turd's way too optimistic." Syaoran mumbled under his breath.

"That's Sakura." Blake's smile returned.

Suddenly a thump sounded behind them and they saw that Eriol had finally climbed back down from the cliff. He dusted his hands off on his shorts.

"So, what did I miss?"

~~*~~

**(Behind the camp, outside of the kitchen, near the edge of the forests)**

"Ugh. Don't you think this punishment is lasting for way too long?"

Sakura complained as she gathered some firewood.

Syaoran grunted in agreement.

"I mean, all we did was have a simple food fight. We cleaned that up, we cleaned the whole hall god damnit. We cleaned the dishes. And now we have to gather firewood and help make dinner?!"

No reply.

"No reply. So you're actually enjoying this? And what the hell's all this firewood for? Just an excuse to make us do work?"

She glanced up and noticed Syaoran looked deep in thought, there was no trace of the usual smirk he wore anywhere.

She stomped up to him.

"TURD."

He blinked, startled.

"Um…did you say something?"

She glared. Then sighed.

"Nevermind."

They both went back to collecting firewood. After a few minutes of awkward silence Sakura suddenly dumped all her collected wood in a heap on the ground.

"This is stupid. They don't even need all this."

"Huh."

"Here, put all yours with mine and we'll wait till they call us in and tell them this is all we got." She walked over to Syaoran and grabbed all of his firewood. That's when she noticed the crinkled bandage on his left hand was about to fall off.

"What happened?"

"Huh?"

She pointed to his hand.

"Oh. I…fell over."

"Oh. Let's go."

"Where?"

"Just come." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind her.

"Hey, what about the firewood?"

"Who gives a sh*t about firewood?"

Syaoran chuckled at that and shook his head, shaking away the thoughtful look he wore before.

"You dragged me all the way here to…?"

"Shut up, sit down."

They were at the camp's medical cabinet in the nurse's office. Since no one had been inside, Sakura had barged right in and began rummaging through the cabinet, before pulling out the first aid kit.

She pointed to his hand.  
"Who did that for you?"

"Uhh..me."

"Yeah well you can't bandage to save your life."

"I noticed that."

"Give me your hand."

"What that's you're holding, poison?"

"Give me your freaking hand."

Syaoran reluctantly held out his hand. Sakura smeared some of medical ointment or 'poison' onto a clean bandage and ripped off the one already on Syaoran's hand.

"It's still kinda bleeding."She stated as she cleaned the graze with a cotton bud. Wrapping the new bandage around his hand she asked.

"You tripped over?"

"Y-yeah."

"You don't seem like the type of person to trip over."

"Well I do. Like last time when I tripped and hit my desk…" He finished the sentence mumbling.

Sakura fastened it with a bit of tape.

"Didn't look like a graze from tripping over." She commented, disposing of the old bandage and screwing the cap back on the jar.

"Yeah…well thanks for that let's go help with dinner they're probably looking for us." Syaoran said hastily and sped out of the office.

Sakura stared after him for a few seconds, before deciding that was probably normal for a turd and replaced the jar and first aid kit back in the cabinet.

"That looked more like a…"

She suddenly flashbacked to when she was falling and Syaoran and Blake had caught her at the same time.  
Blake had been behind them anyway, but Syaoran had been far ahead, almost at the top of the cliff, and she had briefly wondered how he had gotten to her so fast.

"…more like a…rope burn."

She stared out the door.

"Turd…"

~~*~~

"Ok, so you each have a torch, a map, scissors, a simple first aid kit and a walkie talkie to communicate with your team. We trust you are all old enough not to muck around with the scissors." Mr twitchy eye glared at some irresponsible students.

"You have also all been given a pack to put that all in, and a belt to secure the pack and walkie talkie on. By the end of this very exciting game, you all have to return every single one of the items in the state they are in now. If you fail to do so, well, there will be consequences. Now remember, this scavenger hunt will be a competition between the different groups, first to come back will all the things on the list wins a mystery prize. Remember to communicate with your team in case anything happens, play safe, and DON'T WALK OUT OF CAMP BOUNDARIES. THERE IS WIRED FENCING AROUND THE CAMP BOUNDARY, DO NOT WALK OUT OF IT OR THE CAMP OR SCHOOL WILL NOT PAY FOR ANY CASUALTIES. This is for your own safety so please remember. Now, start on the whistle. If anyone doesn't come back within 10 o clock will we send a search team. Good luck."

The members of groups seven smiled at each other and lined up at the starting point. Each had their walkie talkie and pack securely fastened to their belt, and each wore their group coloured bandana around their arm. The groups each had a different colour and a chosen shape distributed among the teams. Group seven had been given the colour red, and in order to cheer Sakura up after the day's incident, their chosen shape was a cherry blossom, and each of their red bandanas had a cherry blossom design printed on.

"Ready, get set, WAIT!"

The whole grade groaned simultaneously.

"I forgot to tell you! Those walkie talkies don't work at certain boundaries, AND they have limited usage time! So! Make sure you work fast!"

The whole grade shot him a look that said 'Ok, you finished babbling, can we go now?"

"Er, ok. Three, two, one START. Have fun."

~~*~~

As their groups' fastest runners, Sakura and Syaoran were in the lead, weaving through the trees and trying search for any hidden in the dense forest. The silvery moonlight illuminated their path, and made their task much easier than it would've been on a cloudy day.

"I think we're too far ahead." Sakura called out to Syaoran.

"On the list does it say red flag?"

Sakura scanned the list carefully and found it.

"Number 13, small red flag."

"Got it." Syaoran jumped out of tree and placed the red flag in his pouch.

"Let's walk slowly now, they'll catch up soon."

"Kay."

Syaoran took the list from Sakura's hand and began counting how many things they needed to find.

"Hey, you know that graze I bandaged before?"

"Mhmm."

"Well it looked like a rope burn. Are you sure it's not from when-"

"I said I tripped over, ok?"

"Ok chill. It just really looked like a rope burn. And I was thinking maybe you got it when you and Blake-"

"Well maybe you're thinking too much. I. Tripped. Over."

"OK. Geez. Stop being such a turd."

"Yeah well you were retarded enough to think that I got it doing what, saving you?"

"Well you got down really fast!" Sakura protested.

"I acted out of instinct. Someone falls, I try to get them, it's like a reflex action. What did you think I was actually being nice?"

Sakura stared at him.

_Do guys PMS too?_

"OK. Fine. Sorry you're such an ass. We really can't have a civil conversation. God I was just asking. And I would have been grateful if you would've just said, yeah I wasn't being an ass for once and I killed my hand saving you."

Syaoran laughed coldly.

"What an imagination."

Sakura shot him a hurt look.

"Will it kill to own up to things once in a while? Or do you have to be a jerk 24/7?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like it means."

"I think you're taking things the wrong way again retard. Just calm down, don't overstress that brain of yours and-"

"You are SUCH a jerk. Why do I even bother trying to communicate with you."

Sakura stalked off in a different direction, soon disappearing amongst the thick trees.

"Sakura! Sakura!"  
Syaoran turned around to see Tomoyo and the rest of their group running up to him.

"Li-kun why did you let her go?" Tomoyo gasped between breaths.

Syaoran inhaled deeply and ran a hand through his hair.

"I…don't know. Our conversations always end up like this."

"But we're in a forest. She could get lost."

"She's not that retarded…right? She'll come back when she cools down. And don't worry, we've got walkie talkies. Just wait five minutes before contacting her. She'll probably be fine by then."

"And she might find some things on the list along the way." Yamazaki added. Chiharu whacked him on the head.

"She's heading out of the path on the map though…"

"She'll come back…" Syaoran sounded as though he was convincing himself.

Tomoyo glanced at him.  
"_Did_ you get that rope burn from saving Sakura? Because you saw her falling and you completely forgot about yourself and slid down to catch her? Like Sakura was trying to point out?" She questioned him.

Syaoran stuck his hand into his jeans pockets, the atmosphere suddenly extremely awkward. They were all waiting for an answer.

"I…"

"Did you?" Tomoyo continued to demand.

"…yeah."

He lowered his head, realising his mistake. He heard Tomoyo take a sharp intake of breath.

"So why did you deny it?"

"Syao, bro, I think you might need to apologise this time."

Syaoran almost glared at Blake, but then lowered his head dejectedly and nodded. Blake was right. His stubbornness and weird temper had hurt Sakura. He probably did need to apologise.

"I'll contact her in five. She probably won't listen to anything I say now."

Tomoyo smiled knowingly.

"Thank you."

~~*~~

Completely unaware of the time, completely unaware of where she was, Sakura wandered around absentmindedly.

_How long has it been since I ran off? Who gives a damn. Seriously why is he being such an ass? Why do I even care? He's the turd. It's all normal._

'But he's also you secret admirer' a small voice at the back of her head reminded her.

_Na-ah. That was most likely a misunderstanding. Or coincidence. Oh damn. That's another thing added to my list of what to ask the turd._

Mumbling to herself about how much Syaoran resembled a piece of turd, Sakura failed to noticed she stepped over a wired fence. The wired fencing supposedly around the camp boundaries. The wired fencing that was somehow knocked down and on the ground. The wired fencing Sakura didn't see and walked past.

~~*~~

"Why isn't she replying?" Syaoran yelled, frustrated.

"It's like…all static." Blake pointed out.

Naoko looked stricken. "Don't tell me her walkie talkie's out of battery…"

"Or worse, she's out of the camp boundary." Takashi added. Chiharu whacked him on the head again and gestured over to Tomoyo, who was currently separately from the group, muttering worriedly to herself.

"Should we go back and contact a teacher?" She suggested.

Syaoran immediately replied, "Considering where we are now, by the time we get back something would have probably happened to Sakura."

"And definitely no one brought a phone?" Chiharu asked.

"Adventure camp honey, they take all our electronics." Tomoyo's worried filled voice replied. They hadn't even realised she had joined the conversation.

Realising everyone was looking at her, Tomoyo forced a smile and said,

"Don't worry. I'm sure she's fine."

"Half of us should go search, the other half, try and run back as fast as you can to contact someone…anyone." Syaoran instructed.

Blake angrily punched a nearby tree.

"Has bad luck decided to stalk Sakura or something?"

"Blake, chill. When they built this camp they would've considered if there were any dangerous animals or things around the place. She should be fine." Syaoran reassured.

"But what if she's out of the boundary?" Blake shot back.

"She would've seen the fence…right?" Eriol assumed.

Syaoran was silent for before replying,  
"Unless someone wants her out.

Blake's eyes flashed in understanding.

"The rope…"

~~*~~

A blood curdling howl snapped Sakura out of her thoughts.

_Holy crap. What hell was that? Oh my god where am I? Am I even in the camp boundary? How long have I been walking._

Another howl, closer this time made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

_If that's what I think it is…_

She immediately whipped out her walkie talkie and tried to communicate with her group. No luck.

_So I'm really out of the boundary?_

A twig snapped nearby.

_Shit shit shit shit._

A growl from her left. Padded footsteps at her right.

_Self defence…self defence…_

She spotted a large stick on the ground and crouched down the retrieve it. By the time she stood up, the sight that welcomed her made her blood run cold.

Wolves. Much larger than the average grey wolf, and six of them. Each had shaggy grey black fur and strong, slender legs that would easily outrun Sakura. Baring it fangs, the one closest to her growled. Its canines were much like those of a sabertooth, long, sharp, designed to kill.

_Ok. I was right. FML._

It seemed as though the breeze had stopped blowing, the forest was silent, deathly silent. The moonlight illuminated the wolves, and seemed to make them glow.

_What type of wolves are these? What the HELL type of wolves are these? I thought this was a campsite…why are there wolves?! Why are there wolves! Why didn't I see the fence!!?_

The first wolf made eye contact with Sakura, its deadly orange eyes pierced into her emerald ones. She stood frozen, mesmerised, paralysed.

And without warning, it lunged. Sakura yelped and tried to whack it with the stick, to no avail. The wolf simply clamped it jaws around it and snapped the branch in half. Easily. Just like how it could snap her bones.

It prepared to leap again and Sakura frantically search in her pouch. Finding what she wanted, she brought the scissors out, and at the last second stabbed at the wolf.

With a pained cry, both the wolf and Sakura fell back, the scissors deeply implanted in the wolf's neck, below the jaw, Sakura clutching her arm where a, luckily shallow, cut began to bleed.

She couldn't risk the chance of pulling the scissors out. The other wolves would take the opportunity to attack.

She waited, out of ideas, for one of them to lunge. It seemed destined she would die today.

She waited.

And waited.

None of them moved. They seemed to stand there, alert, yet relishing the scent of her blood.

And that's when she noticed it. All of the remaining five wolves had a small blue fireball in their mouths, rapidly growing in size.

_Holy shit. WTF? Have I run into a film set or something? Fire? Are these even wolves? WTF WTF WTF? What is this, an Inuyasha movie real life version? This is not happening…not happening…_

When the fireballs seemed like they could no longer fit in the wolves' large mouths, they let it go, firing, all aimed at Sakura. A blinding blue light reflected off the trees and the loud explosive reverberation of fire being blasted rang in Sakura's ears. She felt the searing heat heading towards her, threatening to engulf her.

And she could only scream.

~~*~~

This is definitely the longest chappie I've ever written. As an apology maybe? So I made it longer ^^

So PLEASEEEE REVIEW!

Even if it's just to flame me for not updating!!

Sorry for the cliffie, but I kinda have the next part planned. Just a matter of writing. More reviews and I write quicker!

(I know, everyone says that)

HAPPY 2010!!

BYEE~~

SS4eva


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